les accents
phonétique
les accents
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.
A. Listen to each example and repeat.
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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.
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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:
Ça va? /sa/ | cahier /ka/ |
The cedilla is not used with the letters e and i:
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The dieresis (¨), le tréma, is used with vowels to indicate that they are pronounced separately from a preceding vowel:
Noël | naïf | Loïc |
B. Placez les accents. What accents are missing in these words from the vocabulary list of Chapter 1?
Answers ...
- Vous etes d'ou?
- À tout a l'heure. À bientot.
- Je me presente.
- C'est un etudiant.
- Ca va?
- Il est ingenieur. Elle est medecin.
- C'est une fenetre.
- Repetez, s'il vous plait.