11 1.12: Structure – Comment ça s’écrit ?
In this section, you will learn about:
- The French alphabet
- French accent marks
Listen to the audio clips that follow on this page to hear the French pronunciation of vocabulary and examples presented.
On étudie !
L’alphabet français
| Lettres | Exemples |
|---|---|
| A | comme alligator |
| B | comme bison |
| C | comme canari |
| D | comme dauphin |
| E | comme éléphant |
| F | comme faon |
| G | comme girafe |
| H | comme hamster |
| I | comme iguane |
| J | comme jaguar |
| K | comme koala |
| L | comme lion |
| M | comme mule |
| N | comme narval |
| O | comme orque |
| P | comme panthère |
| Q | comme quetzal |
| R | comme rat |
| S | comme scorpion |
| T | comme tigre |
| U | comme urial |
| V | comme vautour |
| W | comme wallaby |
| X | comme xérus |
| Y | comme yack |
| Z | comme zèbre |
- Practice identifying and pronouncing the letters of the French alphabet with this video: French alphabet.
- Listen and sing along to this French alphabet song.
Les signes diacritiques
Here are the important accents and diacritical marks to remember in French. They are important for both spelling and pronunciation:
| Signes | Exemples | Explications |
|---|---|---|
| accent aigu (´) | étudiant, marié, café | Indicates that an is pronounced like the underlined vowels in day or late, but shorter and crisper. When a French word begins with é is often means that an s would appear at the beginning of the English equivalent: éponge -> sponge; état —> state; étudiante —> student. |
| accent grave (`) | très, à | Indicates that an e is pronounces like the in the English word pet. For example: très, nièce, père. When it is placed over an a or a u, it does not change the pronunciation, but it does distinguish words. Compare: la (the) vs. là (there); ou (or) vs. où (where); a (has) vs. à (to, at). |
| accent circonflexe (ˆ) | hôpital, âge, île, août, sûr | This mark can appear above any vowel. It indicates that a letter has been dropped form an older version of the word, usually an s. This can help us identify mots apparentés. For example: hôpital (hospital), forest (forêt), fête (feast). L’accent circonflexe can also help distinguish between words with similar spellings: mûr (ripe) vs. mur (wall); sûr (sure) vs. sur (on). |
| tréma (¨) | naïve, Haïti, égoïste | Indicates that the vowel under it must be pronounced separately form the vowel next to it (without blending) |
| cédille (ç) | ça, garçon, français | Softens the letter c to be pronounced like an English /s/ instead of a /k/. |
On pratique !
Activité A
The names of these animals begin with which letter of the alphabet? Don’t forget the appropriate accent if there’s one.
- __léphant
- __anard
- __oala
- __rque
- __igre
- __guane
- __lligator
- __ion
- ________èbre
- __allaby
