Acute (�) and grave (�, �, �) accents are used in French, and are called l'accent aigu and l'accent grave respectively. The circumflex (cironflexe) accent (�, �, �, �, �) may be used on any of the five vowels. The grave and circumflex accent marks are often used to distinguish between homonyms. There are two other accents used in French; one is the diaereses (tr�ma) (�, �, �, �, �), and occurs in only a very few words. It indicates that two adjacent vowels must both be pronounced. The final accent is called cedille and may occur only on the letter c. It indicates that it should be pronounced softly (like s, rather than the hard k). Unusually, this accent is marked below the character, thus: �.
CONSONANTS
b � like b in boy
c � like c in peace (before e, i) or like c in cat (before a, o, u)
ch � like sh in shadow
d � like d in dog (generally silent at the end of a word)
f � like f in fish
g � like g in gymnastics (before e,i) or like g in go (before a,o,u)
gn � like ni in onion
h � always silent
j � like g in germ, but much softer
k � like k in king
l � like l in lime
m � like m in me
n � like n in nice (almost silent at the end of a word)
p � like p in pit (generally silent at the end of a word)
qu � like qu in quick, but harder
r � rolled/trilled like r in Spanish or Scottish (generally silent at the end of a word)
s � like s in sit, or� like s in nose (between two vowels)
generally silent at the end of a word
t � like t in tape, but softer (generally silent at the end of a word)
v � like v in vase
w � like w in window
y � like y in pity
z � like z in zoo, but softer
VOWELS
a � like ea in heart
e
� like u in butter, but longer
� (�) like ay in day, but sharper
� (�, �) as above but more open
i � like ee in feet, but shorter
o � like o in more, or
u � like ew in pewter, but with lips more pursed