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You'll only ever see a “ç” before an “a”, “o”, or “u”. It's a simple symbol to understand: a ç (c with a cedilla) is pronounced like an “s”. This accent mark only goes with the letter “c” - it's not found under any other letter. The cedilla in French looks like a little squiggle beneath the letter “c”: “ç”. I’ll also explain the purpose of each of the accents. Let’s take a look at how to pronounce each of the five French accent marks. So how do you read, write, or pronounce these letters? What do the accent marks mean? French Accent Pronunciation Guide
Sometimes they can completely change the meaning of a word. Sometimes they affect pronunciation, sometimes they don't. They serve several different purposes in the language. In French, however, the accent marks are not optional.įrench has several different accent marks, also known as “diacritics”. The words café and résumé are originally French, and in English we often write those words without the accents. Full disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.
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