Table of Contents
Accents
There are 5 French accents:
- the cédille Ç,
- the accent aigu é,
- the accent circonflexe â, ê, î, ô, û,
- the accent grave à, è, ù
- and the accent tréma ë, ï, ü.
1. The cédille (cedilla) Ç
The cédille is only used on the letter C. It changes a hard “c” sound (like “k”) into a soft “c” sound (like “s”). Ç is never used before the vowels e or i, as these 2 vowels always produce a soft “s” sound (glace, ici).
2. The accent aigu (acute accent) é
The accent aigu is only used on the letter e.
3. The accent circonflexe (circumflex) â, ê, î, ô, û
The accent circonflex indicates that (historically) an “s” used to follow that vowel e.g. écouter and escouter
4. The accent grave (grave accent) à, è, ù
With a and u, the accent grave is used to differentiate some words;
- à “to” versus a “has“
- où “where” versus ou “or“
5. The accent tréma (dieresis/umlaut) ë, ï, ü
The accent tréma indicates that the vowel is to be pronounced separately from the one immediately before it.
Punctuation Marks
|
.
|
un point | full stop, period,dot |
|
,
|
une virgule | comma |
|
:
|
les deux points, un deux-points | colon |
|
;
|
un point-virgule | semi colon |
|
‘
|
une apostrophe | apostrophe |
|
!
|
un point d’exclamation | exclamation point |
|
?
|
un point d’interrogation | question mark |
|
…
|
les points de suspension | ellipsis |
|
–
|
un trait d’union | dash, hypen |
|
—
|
un tiret | m-dash |
|
_
|
un underscore, un souligné | underscore |
|
°
|
un symbole du degré | degree sign |
|
« »
|
guillemets (m) | quotation marks, corresponding to inverted commas ” “ |
|
( )
|
parenthèses (f) | parentheses |
|
[ ]
|
crochets (droits) (m) | (square) brackets |
|
{ }
|
accolades (f) | curly brackets, braces |
|
< >
|
crochets fléchés (m), crochets pointus (m) | angle brackets |
|
&
|
une esperluette, un et commercial, un et anglais | ampersand |
|
*
|
un astérisque | asterisk |
|
#
|
un dièse (Fr), un carré (Can) | number sign |
|
$
|
un signe du dollar, un dollar | dollar sign |
|
£
|
un symbole livre | pound sign |
|
%
|
un signe de pour-cent, un pour-cent | percent sign |
|
+
|
le signe plus | plus sign |
|
–
|
le signe moins | minus sign |
|
=
|
un signe égal | equal sign |
|
<
|
un signe inférieur | less-than sign |
|
>
|
un signe supérieur | greater-than sign |
|
|
|
une barre vertical, opérateur de transfert des données | pipe |
|
/
|
une barre oblique, trait oblique, un slash | forward slash |
|
\
|
une barre oblique inverse, un anti slash | backslash |
|
@
|
un aroba, un arobas, un a commercial | at sign |