By the end of this lesson you'll be able to say the French alphabet, recognise the five accents and what they do, spell a word or a name aloud, and read the pronunciation hints used throughout this course.
Why learn the alphabet?
Spelling comes up all the time in real life. You'll spell your name at a hotel desk, give your email address, or ask how a word you've just heard is written. French letters look the same as English ones, but most of their names are different, and a few are genuinely confusing.
The letters
| French | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| A | ah | the letter A |
| B | bay | the letter B |
| C | say | the letter C |
| D | day | the letter D |
| E | uh | the letter ENot 'ee'. That's the French I. |
| F | ef | the letter F |
| G | zhay | the letter GSounds like English J's name. |
| H | ash | the letter HAlmost always silent inside words. |
| I | ee | the letter I |
| J | zhee | the letter JSounds like English G's name. |
| K | kah | the letter K |
| L | el | the letter L |
| M | em | the letter M |
| N | en | the letter N |
| O | oh | the letter O |
| P | pay | the letter P |
| Q | kew | the letter Q |
| R | air | the letter R |
| S | ess | the letter S |
| T | tay | the letter T |
| U | ew | the letter USay 'ee' with your lips rounded. |
| V | vay | the letter V |
| W | doo-bluh-VAY | the letter WLiterally 'double V'. |
| X | eeks | the letter X |
| Y | ee-GREK | the letter YLiterally 'Greek I'. |
| Z | zed | the letter Z |
Most names are easy if you read the hints carefully. The ones that trip people up are the vowels and two consonants:
- E and I are easy to swap. The French E is close to the a in "about", and the French I is close to the ee in "see".
- G and J are swapped compared with English. That's the big one; see the warning below.
- H has a name of its own, but inside words it's almost always silent: hôtel starts with an o sound.
- U is a sound English doesn't have. Start with the vowel of "see", keep your tongue where it is, and round your lips as if to whistle.
- W is "double V" and Y is "Greek I". They're rare in native French words.
The accents
French has five accent marks. They aren't decoration: an accent is part of the spelling, and leaving one out is a spelling mistake.
| French | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| l'accent aigu (é) | lak-sahn tay-GEW | acute accent |
| l'accent grave (è, à, ù) | lak-sahn GRAHV | grave accent |
| l'accent circonflexe (ê, â, î, ô, û) | lak-sahn seer-kohn-FLEKS | circumflex |
| la cédille (ç) | lah say-DEE | cedilla |
| le tréma (ë, ï) | luh tray-MAH | diaeresis (two dots) |
Accent aigu (é). Only ever on e. It gives a sound like the vowel in "day", but shorter and without the glide at the end: café, été (summer), étudiant (student).
Accent grave (è, à, ù). On e, it gives an open sound like the e in "bed": très (very), mère (mother). On a and u it usually doesn't change the sound at all. It tells two words apart instead: a (has) and à (at, to), ou (or) and où (where).
Accent circonflexe (ê, â, î, ô, û). It can sit on any vowel. Very often it marks a spot where an s used to be written, and English sometimes kept that s: forêt (forest), hôpital (hospital), fête (feast). Spotting this can help you guess a word's meaning.
Cédille (ç). Only under c, and only before a, o or u. A plain c before those letters sounds like k (café). The cédille makes it an s sound: ça (that), garçon (boy), français (French).
Tréma (ë, ï). Two dots telling you to pronounce the vowel separately instead of blending it with the one before: Noël (Christmas), naïf (naive).
Spelling aloud
To spell a word, say each letter's name. For accents, say the letter and then the accent: "e accent aigu", "c cédille". For a double letter, French counts: deux L, deux S.
| French | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| l'alphabet | lal-fah-BAY | the alphabet |
| une lettre | ewn LET-ruh | a letter |
| une majuscule | ewn mah-zhew-SKEWL | a capital letter |
| une minuscule | ewn mee-new-SKEWL | a small (lowercase) letter |
| Ça s'écrit comment ? | sah say-KREE koh-MAHN | How do you spell that?Literally 'How does that write itself?' |
| Vous pouvez épeler, s'il vous plaît ? | voo poo-VAY ay-puh-LAY seel voo PLEH | Can you spell it, please? |
| deux L | duh ZEL | double L (two Ls) |
Ça s'écrit comment ?
How do you spell that?
Vous pouvez épeler, s'il vous plaît ?
Can you spell it, please?
Ça s'écrit avec deux L.
It's spelled with two Ls.
Hélène : H, e accent aigu, L, e accent grave, N, E.
Hélène: H, e acute, L, e grave, N, E.
Thé ou café ?
Tea or coffee? (ou without an accent means 'or')
How to read the pronunciation hints
Every vocabulary table in this course has a pronunciation column. The hints use English spelling with a few conventions:
- CAPITALS mark the syllable with a little more weight. In French that's normally the last syllable of a word or short phrase, not the first as in many English words.
- zh is the sound in the middle of "measure".
- uh is the soft sound at the start of "about".
- ew is the French u: say "ee" with rounded lips.
- ahn, ohn, an, uhn: when a vowel is followed by n in a hint, the vowel is usually nasal. Let the sound go through your nose and don't fully close the n.
- r is the French r, made at the back of the throat, close to a light gargle.
The hints are a starting point, not an exact recording. They work best alongside the spelling, which you'll learn to read more and more directly.
What's next
Next you'll put your name to use in the introductions lesson, where spelling your name is a skill you'll actually need. Then the numbers lesson adds the other half of what you need to give your details: numbers.