By Sumit Manwal, Founder, Hospitality Vacancy
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Accents change both the sound and the meaning of French words, which matters on menus.
Here are the French accents and orthographic signs.
Planning your next career move in hospitality? Register free at https://www.hospitalityvacancy.com/register/candidate and browse the latest hotel jobs.
Accents
There are 5 French accents
- the cédille Ç,
- the accent aigu é,
- the accent circonflexe â, ê, î, ô, û,
- the accent grave à, è, ù
- and the accent tréma ë, ï, ü.
1. The cédille (cedilla) Ç
The cédille is only used on the letter C. It changes a hard “c” sound (like “k”) into a soft “c” sound (like “s”). Ç is never used before the vowels e or i, as these 2 vowels always produce a soft “s” sound (glace, ici).
2. The accent aigu (acute accent) é
The accent aigu is only used on the letter e.
3. The accent circonflexe (circumflex) â, ê, î, ô, û
The accent circonflex indicates that (historically) an “s” used to follow that vowel e.g. écouter and escouter
4. The accent grave (grave accent) à, è, ù
With a and u, the accent grave is used to differentiate some words;
- à “to” versus a “has“
- où “where” versus ou “or“
5. The accent tréma (dieresis/umlaut) ë, ï, ü
The accent tréma indicates that the vowel is to be pronounced separately from the one immediately before it.
Punctuation Marks
. un point full stop, period,dot , une virgule comma : les deux points, un deux-points colon ; un point-virgule semi colon ‘ une apostrophe apostrophe ! un point d’exclamation exclamation point ? un point d’interrogation question mark … les points de suspension ellipsis – un trait d’union dash, hypen — un tiret m-dash _ un underscore, un souligné underscore ° un symbole du degré degree sign « » guillemets (m) quotation marks, corresponding to inverted commas ” “ ( ) parenthèses (f) parentheses [ ] crochets (droits) (m) (square) brackets { } accolades (f) curly brackets, braces < > crochets fléchés (m), crochets pointus (m) angle brackets & une esperluette, un et commercial, un et anglais ampersand * un astérisque asterisk # un dièse (Fr), un carré (Can) number sign $ un signe du dollar, un dollar dollar sign £ un symbole livre pound sign % un signe de pour-cent, un pour-cent percent sign + le signe plus plus sign – le signe moins minus sign = un signe égal equal sign < un signe inférieur less-than sign > un signe supérieur greater-than sign | une barre vertical, opérateur de transfert des données pipe / une barre oblique, trait oblique, un slash forward slash \ une barre oblique inverse, un anti slash backslash @ un aroba, un arobas, un a commercial at sign
FAQ
What is a cédille?
The mark under the c in ç, which makes it sound like an "s".
Your next step
- Students and hotel professionals: Create your free candidate profile on Hospitality Vacancy and browse the latest hotel jobs.
- Planning your next career move in hospitality? Register free at https://www.hospitalityvacancy.com/register/candidate and browse the latest hotel jobs.
- Want to speak more confidently with guests and interviewers? Practise with an online tutor on Preply (#Ad: affiliate link, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you).
- Hotels hiring: Register as an employer on Hospitality Vacancy.
Related reading on this blog
- French Numbers for Hotel Students: Cardinal and Ordinal Numbers
- French Terms for Hotel Students: Days, Dates, Time, Months and Seasons
About the Author
Sumit Manwal is the founder of Hospitality Vacancy (since 2017) and has 20+ years of experience in hospitality. He received the "Excellence in Hospitality Sector of Uttarakhand" award, presented by Shri Dhan Singh Rawat ji (January 2023), and the Dainik Jagran inext Uttarakhand Ratan Samman for Excellence in Hospitality & Education, presented by Shri Bhagat Singh Koshyari ji (2023). He helps hotels build reliable teams and professionals grow their careers.
📧 Contact: manwal@hospitalityvacancy.com | 🔗 LinkedIn
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