|
The acute accent (´), l'accent aigu, and the grave accent (`), l'accent grave,
are used to indicate the quality of the vowel sound represented by the letter e.
B. Listen and repeat.
 |
 |
| é /e/ |
| année |
| Répétez! |
| André |
|
|
|
|
When used with letters other than e, the accent grave does not indicate a sound difference
but serves to distinguish different words which have the same spelling but different meanings.
|
|
| ou (or) |
|
où (where) |
| la date (the date) |
|
là (there) |
| il y a (there is/are) |
|
à l'heure (on time) |
|
The circumflex (ˆ), l'accent circonflexe, arose historically as a marker for vowels
which were followed by another letter (usually s) in an earlier state of the language:
|
|
être (<estre) |
|
hôtel (<hostel) |
|
forêt (<forest) |
|
plaît (<plaist) |
The cedilla (ç), la cédille, is used only with the letter c to indicate the sound /s/ when it is followed by the letters a, o, or u:
The cedilla is not used with the letters e and i:
The dieresis (¨), le tréma, is used with vowels to indicate
that they are pronounced separately from a preceding vowel:
|
