For a beginner in a new language, accents can perhaps look a bit daunting.<\/p>\n
In fact, apart from \u00e7 (c cedilla – see below) the three main accents (here shown with e, as being the most used):<\/p>\n
\u00e8 = e grave (also grave in English), \u00ea = e circonflexe (circumflex in English), \u00e9 = e aigu (acute in English). These three (and \u00e7) are by far the most used accents in French.<\/p>\n
TIP: an easy way to access \u00e9 on a UK keyboard: hold down the Alt gr key (bottom row on my keyboard) while typing e, and you will get \u00e9 with minimum fuss. This also works for \u00e1 but the only time you may need this, as far as I know, is in Spanish.<\/p>\n
Otherwise, the way to access accented letters is to use the Insert option: in Word or WordPress (etc?) click on the ‘horseshoe\/ace of clubs\/old-fashioned hairstyle’ icon, then click on the symbol you need. This\u00a0does not work in e-mail (unless you have a more advanced version than I have); my e-mail\u00a0has no Insert symbols options so I can only manage \u00e9 (using the Alt gr key as explained above).<\/p>\n
\u00e7 : c cedilla. The cedilla under a c softens the c. eg pronounce it like an s and not like a k. This is usually necessary after an a an o or a u. For a long time I used to write ‘i\u00e7i’ for ‘here’ but this is not right: c after an i is soft already.<\/p>\n
I may have made this sound more complicated than it is: to sum up: the four main accents in French are: \u00e9 \u00ea \u00e8, and \u00e7. There are a few others (\u00ee, \u00f4, \u00fb etc)but they are not used\u00a0as often.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
For a beginner in a new language, accents can perhaps look a bit daunting. In fact, apart from \u00e7 (c cedilla – see below) the three main accents (here shown with e, as being the most used): \u00e8 = e … Continue reading