Learn French for Beginners: Special Letters and Pronunciation

Learn French for Beginners: Special Letters and Pronunciation
French has a few special characters that aren't in the English alphabet. Let's take a look at them and how they're pronounced.
Special Accented Characters
Accented Vowels
É
is often found at the end of words and represents a closed vowel sound. It's common in past participles and other forms.
Examples: "Café" (coffee), "Été" (summer).
È
is used to denote an open vowel sound. It often appears in verbs and adjectives.
Examples: "Mère" (mother), "Père" (father).
Ê
indicates a long open vowel sound, often representing a historical change in spelling.
Examples: "Forêt" (forest), "Être" (to be).
Ë
is used to separate vowel sounds in a word, ensuring each vowel is pronounced individually.
Examples: "Noël" (Christmas), "Haïr" (to hate).
À
is often used to distinguish between words that would otherwise be homographs, ensuring clarity in meaning.
Examples: "Voilà" (there is), "À" (to, at).
Ù
Example: "Où" (where).
Û
The circumflex on û can indicate a historical change where an 's' used to follow the vowel.
Examples: "Coûte" (costs), "Dû" (due).

often represents a change from an old spelling where the vowel was followed by an 's'.
Examples: "Pâle" (pale), " ge" (age).
Î
indicating historical spelling changes.
Examples: "Île" (island), "Naître" (to be born).
Ï
separates two vowels to ensure each is pronounced distinctly.
Examples: "Maïs" (corn), "Saül" (Saul).
Accented Consonants
Ç
The cedilla changes a hard 'c' sound (k) to a soft 'c' sound (s).
Examples: "Français" (French), "Garçon" (boy).
Additional Notes
The accents can change the meaning and pronunciation of words significantly.
Understanding and using these accents correctly is crucial for proper communication in French.
#learnfrench
#frenchlanguage
#learnfrenchwithava