| accent | role | examples |
|---|---|---|
| é (acute) | closed "ay" sound | été, café |
| è (grave) | open "eh" sound; or to tell two words apart | père, très; à (to, at) / a (has), où (where) / ou (or), là (there) / la (the) |
| ê, â, î, ô, û (circumflex) | often an old s that disappeared; or to tell words apart | forêt (forest), hôpital (hospital), fête (feast); sûr (sure) / sur (on), dû (due) / du (of the) |
| ë, ï (diaeresis) | pronounce both vowels separately | Noël, naïf, maïs (maize) |
| ç (cedilla) | « c » = "s" before a, o, u | ça, garçon, reçu, nous commençons |
Accents matter: ou (or) / où (where), a (has) / à (to). On capitals, it's better to keep them: École, À bientôt.
Elision: before a vowel or a silent h, le, la, je, me, te, se, de, ne, que lose their vowel: l'ami, j'aime, n'est, qu'il, d'accord. si only before il(s): s'il. No elision before an aspirated h: le héros (the hero), la honte (shame), les haricots (beans, no liaison).
Liaison: a silent final consonant is pronounced before a vowel: les‿amis ("lay-z-ami"), vous‿avez, un‿enfant, c'est‿important. Never after et: un homme et | une femme.
Capitals: only for proper names and inhabitants: les Français (the French), un Suisse (a Swiss man). No capital for languages, adjectives, days, months, unlike English: le français (French), un fromage suisse (a Swiss cheese), lundi (Monday), janvier (January).
Typography: a space before ; : ! ? and inside the quotation marks « … ». Comma for decimals (3,5 = 3.5) and space for thousands (10 000 = 10,000).
Translate the words from your reading, review them as flashcards and practise with gap-fill sentences.
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