Do French accent marks really matter or are they merely decorative? We learned from previous lessons that, yes, accents do matter. They are essential for clarity, grammar, and pronunciation in French. This is especially true for pairs of words that look and sound nearly identical. A single, tiny accent mark—easily overlooked—is all that distinguishes their meanings. To help you avoid some common mistakes, we will walk you through some of the most frequently used "accentonyms", such as ou (or) and où (where).

Two of these “accentonyms” are the shortest words in the French language: a and à. Without an accent, a is the third-person singular of avoir (to have) in the present tense, as in il/elle a (he /she has):

Elle a des répliques cultes

She has some famous lines

Caption 20, Français avec Nelly How to Speak Like Marie Antoinette - Part 1

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With an accent grave, à is a preposition meaning "at," "in," or "to":

Alors qu'est-ce qu'il s'est passé à Paris le quinze avril deux mille dix-neuf ?

So what happened in Paris on April fifteenth, two thousand nineteen?

Caption 14, Français avec Nelly L'histoire de Notre-Dame de Paris - Part 1

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On a similar note, do not confuse the feminine definite article la (the) and the adverb of location là (there). They might even appear within a single sentence as shown in the example below, so be sure to spell them correctly: 

Et... là où en fait tu vois la perspective de la Dame de fer, la tour Eiffel.

And... where you actually see the perspective of the Iron Lady, the Eiffel Tower.

Captions 31-32, Marie et Sandra Atelier d'art - Part 26

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Speaking of location, note the difference in meaning between ou (or) and où (where). Don’t forget to add an accent grave on the u to indicate “where” you are or are going:

Et où est-ce qu'on va ?

And where are we going?

Caption 11, Extr@ Ep. 11 - Les vacances - Part 8

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And use the unaccented ou (or) when discussing alternatives: 

Ce virus ou cette pandémie, pour être plus précis, a une envergure mondiale aujourd'hui.

This virus, or this pandemic, to be more precise, now has a worldwide scope.

Captions 19-20, Lionel L La pandémie

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Let’s move on to a different accent, the accent circonflexe (circumflex accent), which can modify all five vowels (â, ê, î, ô, û). For example, the words du (some) and dû (due/must have) have different meanings. The French indefinite article du means “some” in English:

D'abord, prenez du chocolat et faites-le fondre.

First, take some chocolate and let it melt.

Captions 3-4, Extr@ Ep. 5 - Une étoile est née - Part 7

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With an accent circonflexe, dû becomes a past participle (of devoir, "to have to/must") expressing causation or probability:

Ça a dû lui prendre un peu la tête.

It must have given her a bit of a headache.

Caption 33, Français avec Nelly How to Speak Like Marie Antoinette - Part 1

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Likewise, be sure to know the difference between these two very common words: the preposition sur (on) and the adjective sûr (sure).

Cette pluie sage et heureuse / Sur ton visage heureux

That wise and happy rain / On your happy face

Captions 32-33, Le saviez-vous? "Barbara" de Jacques Prévert

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Déjà d'une, on n'est pas sûr de vieillir, hein.

First of all, already, we aren't sure we'll reach old age, you know.

Caption 15, Télésonne Micro Trottoir : Bien vieillir ?

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Circumflex accents don’t affect pronunciation when modifying the vowels u or i. However, in addition to a change of meaning, there is a change in pronunciation with accented ê, â, and ô, providing an additional clue as to their spelling. For example, the unaccented o in notre (our) has a more open, shorter sound than the accented ô in le nôtre (ours). Listen carefully to the two examples below, as the difference is subtle:

Pour notre dernière étape, il faut suivre ce câble.

For our last stop, we have to follow this cable.

Captions 77-78, TF1 Info Week-end à Angers et son trésor médiéval - Part 2

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Ce frère, c'est le nôtre.

This brother, he is ours.

Caption 4, Le saviez-vous? Les pronoms possessifs - Part 2

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The accented ô in le nôtre (ours) has a deeper, longer sound. When in doubt, remember that the adjective notre precedes the noun it modifies, whereas the possessive pronoun le nôtre stands alone.

Likewise, listen for the subtle difference between the more open and shorter-sounding unaccented a, as in tache (stain), and the longer, deeper accented â in tâche (task):

Le plafond du cabinet était couvert d'une tache d'environ soixante-dix centimètres de diamètre.

The ceiling of the office was covered with a stain about seventy centimeters in diameter.

Captions 83-85, Le Jour où tout a basculé À l'audience - Mise en danger par un médecin ? - Part 4

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Pour vous faciliter la tâche

To make the task easier for yourself

Caption 145, Whoogy's Poulet au vin jaune & aux morilles - Part 1

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Finally, here is an example featuring an accent aigu (acute accent) that will change both pronunciation and meaning. Notice how such a tiny accent can make all the difference in the words sale (dirty) versus salé (salty). 

L'eau était s'... sale.

The water was d'... dirty.

Caption 42, Marie et Sandra Atelier d'art - Part 18

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C'est un peu salé. 

It's a bit salty. 

Caption 24, Mère & Fille Cuisine Monster

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We hope this lesson vous a facilité la tâche (made your task easier) and will help you avoid common mistakes in the future. For a more comprehensive list of “accentonyms,” check out this site. Thank you for reading!

In a previous lesson, we explored how the accent grave (è) and accent aigu (é) interact within a single word. But how do these accents function when conjugating certain -er verbs? Specifically, why do verbs like acheter (to buy) take an accent grave (achète), while appeler (to call) has a double l (appelle) in the present tense? Let's find out!

When verbs like these lose their -r infinitive ending during conjugation, a silent e remains in the last syllable, leaving us with two consecutive silent e's separated by a single consonant: "achete," "appele." Since French phonology typically avoids having two consecutive silent e's, the spelling must be altered—via an accent or a doubled consonant—to maintain correct pronunciation. Verbs that do this are known as stem-changing verbs.

One group of French -er verbs, including appeler (to call) and jeter (to throw), have a double consonant in certain conjugated forms. Basically, for the je, tu, il/elle and ils/elles conjugations, you take the verb stem (what’s left after you take out the -er of the infinitive), and double the final consonant: appell-, jett-. Then it's just a matter of adding the usual appropriate endings. But note that the stem only changes in the je, tu, il/elle, and ils/elles forms, not nous or vous. So you have j'appelle and tu jettes, but nous appelons and vous jetez.

The change occurs in the present and future tenses, and the conditional mood:

Je m'appelle Nelly.

My name is Nelly.

Caption 31, Français avec Nelly Coco Chanel - Part 1

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Vous verrez que Nico, le voisin, a toutes les qualités d'une star et que Spielberg appellera.

You'll see that Nico, the neighbor, has all the qualities of a star and that Spielberg will call.

Captions 31-33, Extr@ Ep. 5 - Une étoile est née - Part 6

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Et d'ailleurs, il est prévu dans "x" siècles que la Moselle ne se jetterait plus dans le Rhin.

And incidentally, it has been predicted in "x" number of centuries that the Moselle supposedly won't flow into the Rhine anymore.

Captions 75-76, Lionel L'Office de tourisme de Liverdun

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In addition, there is a second group of verbs that don’t double consonants, but require an accent grave on the penultimate e instead. Common verbs in this group include acheter (to buy) and se lever (to get up):

Tu achètes une douzaine d'œufs.

You buy a dozen eggs.

Caption 50, Extr@ Ep. 2 - Sam fait du shopping - Part 5

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Elle se lève à neuf heures.

She gets up at nine.

As with the first group, the verb stem doesn't change in the first- and second-person plural (nous and vous), as the final syllable is now stressed:

Donc c'est un objet en terre cuite, bien sûr, ce que nous achetons

So this is a terra cotta object, of course, which we are buying

Caption 23, Canal 32 Mesnil-Saint-Loup : moines artisans

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Vous vous levez très tôt.

You get up very early. 

Likewise, this rule also applies to the conditional mood and future tense:

Tu achèteras une douzaine d'œufs.

You will buy a dozen eggs.

Elle se lèverait à neuf heures tous les jours si elle avait un réveil.

She would wake up at nine every day if she had an alarm clock.

What happens when an -er verb has an accent aigu in it, as in céder (to cede)? The é changes to an è! 

Les Autrichiens cèdent une partie de leur territoire

The Austrians cede part of their territory,

Caption 58, Le Monde Comment Napoléon a conquis (et perdu) l’Europe - Part 2

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As mentioned in a previous lesson, the 1990 spelling reform changed some accent rules, but these are not universally applied. So, for instance, you will see both je cèderai (per the spelling reform) or je céderai:

Idem pour je céderai.

Likewise for "I will give in."

Caption 31, Lionel L La réforme du français

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Unfortunately, there's no hard and fast rule to determine whether a stem-changing verb takes a double consonant or an è. But to familiarize yourself with the full list of them, click here. Just remember that in all of these cases, the stem only changes in certain persons (je, tu, il/elle, ils/elles) and in certain tenses/moods (present, future, conditional). Thanks for reading! 

We’ve dealt with adjectives a lot in previous Yabla lessons, and in this one we’ll focus on five of them that all share one important feature. See if you notice something peculiar about the spelling of the French words for “new” and “old” in the following examples: 

Donc je vais vous présenter mon nouvel appartement.

So I'm going to show you my new apartment.

Caption 20, Joanna - Son nouvel appartement

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Ce square a la particularité d'héberger le plus vieil arbre de Paris.

This square has the distinction of housing the oldest tree in Paris.

Caption 27, Voyage dans Paris - Saint-Germain-des-Prés

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BANNER PLACEHOLDER

You may already know that “new” in French is nouveau (masculine) and nouvelle (feminine), and that “old” is vieux (masculine) and vieille (feminine). So where did nouvel and vieil come from? 

The answer is that, for a small group of adjectives, the masculine singular form changes when the adjective is followed by a noun starting with a vowel or a non-aspirated (mute) h. So instead of nouveau appartement, you have nouvel appartement, and instead of vieux arbre, you have vieil arbre. 

If you think about it in terms of pronunciation, you might get a better sense of why this happens. The phrase nouvel appartement “flows” better than nouveau appartement because the l sound prevents the little pause that occurs when you move from the “eau” of nouveau to the “a” of appartement. French pronunciation places a heavy emphasis on words flowing together smoothly (a concept called “euphony”), an idea we previously touched on in our lesson on liaisons. This little rule is just another way of making sure the language sounds pleasing to the ear. 

The three other descriptive adjectives that exhibit this spelling change are beau/bel/belle (beautiful), fou/fol/folle (mad, crazy), and mou/mol/molle (soft). 

Je préfère un mol oreiller.
I prefer a soft pillow. 

Le fol espoir d'un rendez-vous

The mad hope of a rendezvous

Caption 15, Oldelaf - interprète "Bérénice"

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Alors, qui me fait une offre pour ce bel athlète?

So, who's making me an offer for this handsome athlete?

Caption 25, Il était une fois... l’Homme - 6. Le siècle de Périclès

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This phenomenon also occurs with the demonstrative adjective ce/cette (this, that), which becomes cet before a singular masculine noun starting with a vowel or mute h. So if we removed the word “handsome” from the sentence above, it would become:

Alors, qui me fait une offre pour cet athlète?
So, who’s making me an offer for this athlete? 

Note that if another word beginning with a consonant (usually another adjective) is placed between the noun and the special form of the adjective, you don’t need to use the special form anymore. You can see this in the previous example, where you have ce bel athlète instead of cet bel athlète. 

As you may have noticed, all of these adjectives belong to a small group of adjectives that go before the noun they modify. You can learn more about adjectives like this in our previous lesson on the subject. Also, remember that this spelling change only occurs with the masculine singular forms of these adjectives. The masculine plural forms (nouveaux, vieux, mous, fous, beaux, ces) don’t change before a noun beginning with a vowel or mute h. According to the rules of liaison, their endings are pronounced to indicate the plural. 

BANNER PLACEHOLDER

Since this spelling change happens with such a small number of adjectives, the best way to learn it is probably just to memorize them. Here’s a little memory aid for you using fragments of all the example sentences in this lesson: 

Cet homme a le fol espoir de trouver… (This man has the mad hope of finding…)
    ...le plus nouvel appartement de Paris. (...the newest apartment in Paris.)
    ...le plus vieil arbre de Paris. (...the oldest tree in Paris.)
    ...le plus mol oreiller de Paris. (...the softest pillow in Paris.)
    ...le plus bel athlète de Paris. (...the handsomest athlete in Paris.) 

As we’ve noted in previous lessons, accent marks are very important in French. Their presence or absence can completely change the meaning of a word, as in cote, côte, and côté or des, dés, and dès. In this lesson, we’ll investigate a more straightforward but no less significant distinction, between du and dû. 

BANNER PLACEHOLDER

You may already know that in French de + le ("of" + "the") is always contracted into du. That’s why, in their introduction to their video on springtime trends (or trends of the springtime), Fanny and Corinne say tendances du printemps:

On va vous parler des tendances du printemps.

We're going to tell you about some springtime trends.

Caption 3, Fanny & Corrine parlent de la mode - Tendances du printemps

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Printemps is masculine, so, to put it mathematically: de + le printemps = du printemps. Note that, in the title, Fanny and Corinne parlent de la mode (talk about fashion). De + la can appear together in French, so no contraction is necessary there. You can find out more about these rules on this page.

When you put a circumflex on du, its pronunciation doesn’t change, but it’s no longer a contraction of de + le. Dû is the past participle of the verb devoir, which means “to have to” or “to owe.” So why does dû require a circumflex? For no other reason than to distinguish it from du! Though the circumflex is only used to distinguish meaning in this case, it can serve some other purposes as well, which you can learn more about here.

Here’s an example of dû used as a past participle, from a video about an electric sporting boat: 

Donc, on a dû utiliser deux moteurs.

So we had to use two motors.

Caption 25, Bateau sport 100% électrique - Le Nautique 196 E

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Dû can also be used as an adjective, in which case it means “due,” as in the expression “due to” (dû à): 

Peut-être que c'est aussi dû au fait que ma mère aimait beaucoup chanter.

Maybe it's also due to the fact that my mother liked very much to sing.

Caption 16, Mai Lingani - Mai et Burkina Electric

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Dû is the masculine singular form of the adjective, but note that the circumflex disappears in every other form: the feminine singular (due), the masculine plural (dus), and the feminine plural (dues). Remember: in this case, the circumflex is only there to prevent confusion with du.

In this caption from a video on AIDS, dû modifies the singular feminine noun banalisation, so it becomes due: 

Une banalisation qui est due d'ailleurs à la trithérapie.

A trivialization which, besides, is due to the tritherapy.

Captions 3-4, Le Journal - Le sida

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Finally, dû can be used as a noun (un dû) to mean “a due,” or something that one is owed: 

Je lui paierai son dû. 
I will pay him his due. 

BANNER PLACEHOLDER

We hope that we have duly (dûment) demonstrated how much of a difference one little accent mark can make!