French Alphabet

The French alphabet is based on the Latin alphabet and uses the same 26 letters as in English. The difference though is the sounds of the letters.

Generally the sounds are not too difficult for a native English speaker to master. The hardest letters to master are E, I, G, J.

The best way to learn is to:
Listen and repeat…..
Listen and repeat.….
Listen and repeat….

or if you want L'Alphabet Français sung to you....

You will also notice that the French alphabet incorporates a number of accents on some of the letters. These will change the sound of the letter.

There are four accents for the vowels (´ - ‘ - ^ - ¨) and
one accent (¸) that can be used on the consonants.

More FREE French Language Lessons

What are the French Accents?

The accent aigu ´ (acute accent) can only be on an E. At the beginning of a word, it often indicates that an S used to follow that vowel, e.g., étudiant.

The accent grave ` (grave accent) can be found on an A, E, or U. On the A and U, it usually serves to distinguish between homographs (word that has the same spelling as another) e.g. ou (or) and où (where).

The accent circonflexe ^ (circumflex) can be placed on an A, E, I, O, or U. The circonflexe usually indicates that an s used to follow that vowel, e.g., forêt. It also serves to distinguish between homographs e.g. du (contraction of de + le) and dû (past participle of devoir).

The accent tréma ¨ (umlaut) can be on an E, I, or U. It is used when two vowels are next to each other and both must be pronounced, e.g., naïve, Saül.

The cédille ¸ (cedilla) is found only on the letter C. It changes a hard C sound (like K) into a soft C sound (like S), e.g., garçon. The cedilla is never placed in front of E or I, because C always sounds like an S in front of these vowels.

Superb tool for typing the French accents