Acute and grave
É é À à È è Ù ù
French uses the acute on E and the grave on A, E, and U.
FRENCH CHARACTER SET
French accented letters and symbols
Copy French letters with acute, grave, circumflex, diaeresis, or cedilla marks, plus ligatures and guillemets.
Click a character, then paste with Ctrl+V or ⌘V.
Characters 34Groups 5Format Unicode text
QUICK REFERENCE
Find the right character
Circumflex
 â Ê ê Î î Ô ô Û û
The circumflex can affect pronunciation or distinguish spellings.
Diaeresis
Ë ë Ï ï Ü ü Ÿ ÿ
The diaeresis can show that neighboring vowels are pronounced separately.
Cedilla
Ç ç
The cedilla keeps a soft C sound before A, O, or U.
Ligatures and quotes
Æ æ Œ œ « »
French uses the AE and OE ligatures in particular words and guillemets for quotation marks.
KEYBOARD METHODS
How to type and insert these characters
Use Alt codes or a French layout
Hold Alt and type the four-digit code from the table on the numeric keypad. A French or Canadian multilingual keyboard is more efficient for regular writing.
Use Option accent keys
Use Option + E for the acute, Option + grave for the grave, Option + I for the circumflex, Option + U for the diaeresis, and Option + C for ç. Type the base letter after a dead key.
Hold the base letter
Touch and hold A, C, E, I, O, U, or Y, then slide to the required French form. Hold the quotation key or use a French keyboard for guillemets when available.
Use accent shortcuts or Alt+X
Word supports Ctrl-based accent shortcuts. You can also type a Unicode value and press Alt+X, such as 0153 for œ, 00E7 for ç, or 00E9 for é.
UNICODE REFERENCE
Character codes
| Character | Name | Group | Unicode | Windows Alt | HTML named | HTML decimal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| À | Capital A with grave | Grave | U+00C0 | Alt+0192 | À | À |
| à | Lowercase a with grave | Grave | U+00E0 | Alt+0224 | à | à |
| È | Capital E with grave | Grave | U+00C8 | Alt+0200 | È | È |
| è | Lowercase e with grave | Grave | U+00E8 | Alt+0232 | è | è |
| Ù | Capital U with grave | Grave | U+00D9 | Alt+0217 | Ù | Ù |
| ù | Lowercase u with grave | Grave | U+00F9 | Alt+0249 | ù | ù |
| É | Capital E with acute | Acute | U+00C9 | Alt+0201 | É | É |
| é | Lowercase e with acute | Acute | U+00E9 | Alt+0233 | é | é |
| Â | Capital A with circumflex | Circumflex | U+00C2 | Alt+0194 | Â | Â |
| â | Lowercase a with circumflex | Circumflex | U+00E2 | Alt+0226 | â | â |
| Ê | Capital E with circumflex | Circumflex | U+00CA | Alt+0202 | Ê | Ê |
| ê | Lowercase e with circumflex | Circumflex | U+00EA | Alt+0234 | ê | ê |
| Î | Capital I with circumflex | Circumflex | U+00CE | Alt+0206 | Î | Î |
| î | Lowercase i with circumflex | Circumflex | U+00EE | Alt+0238 | î | î |
| Ô | Capital O with circumflex | Circumflex | U+00D4 | Alt+0212 | Ô | Ô |
| ô | Lowercase o with circumflex | Circumflex | U+00F4 | Alt+0244 | ô | ô |
| Û | Capital U with circumflex | Circumflex | U+00DB | Alt+0219 | Û | Û |
| û | Lowercase u with circumflex | Circumflex | U+00FB | Alt+0251 | û | û |
| Ë | Capital E with diaeresis | Diaeresis | U+00CB | Alt+0203 | Ë | Ë |
| ë | Lowercase e with diaeresis | Diaeresis | U+00EB | Alt+0235 | ë | ë |
| Ï | Capital I with diaeresis | Diaeresis | U+00CF | Alt+0207 | Ï | Ï |
| ï | Lowercase i with diaeresis | Diaeresis | U+00EF | Alt+0239 | ï | ï |
| Ü | Capital U with diaeresis | Diaeresis | U+00DC | Alt+0220 | Ü | Ü |
| ü | Lowercase u with diaeresis | Diaeresis | U+00FC | Alt+0252 | ü | ü |
| Ÿ | Capital Y with diaeresis | Diaeresis | U+0178 | Alt+0159 | Ÿ | Ÿ |
| ÿ | Lowercase y with diaeresis | Diaeresis | U+00FF | Alt+0255 | ÿ | ÿ |
| Ç | Capital C with cedilla | Cedilla | U+00C7 | Alt+0199 | Ç | Ç |
| ç | Lowercase c with cedilla | Cedilla | U+00E7 | Alt+0231 | ç | ç |
| Æ | Capital AE ligature | Ligatures | U+00C6 | Alt+0198 | Æ | Æ |
| æ | Lowercase ae ligature | Ligatures | U+00E6 | Alt+0230 | æ | æ |
| Π| Capital OE ligature | Ligatures | U+0152 | Alt+0140 | Π| Π|
| œ | Lowercase oe ligature | Ligatures | U+0153 | Alt+0156 | œ | œ |
| « | Left-pointing double angle quotation mark | Quotation marks | U+00AB | Alt+0171 | « | « |
| » | Right-pointing double angle quotation mark | Quotation marks | U+00BB | Alt+0187 | » | » |
For ordinary writing, copy and paste the character itself. Use an HTML entity only in HTML source. A listed Windows Alt code requires a numeric keypad and may depend on the active character set.
USAGE GUIDE
Which marks are used in French?
French uses the acute accent, grave accent, circumflex, diaeresis, and cedilla. It also uses the ligatures œ and æ in particular words. Accents belong on capital letters when the spelling requires them.
Examples include école, très, forêt, Noël, garçon, cœur, and œuvre. The mark may affect pronunciation, distinguish words, or preserve the established spelling.
Guillemets are French angle quotation marks. Publishing conventions for spacing around them vary by locale and software, so follow the style required by your document.
Πis a ligature, not an accented O
Œ joins O and E into a single character used in words such as cœur. Ç uses a cedilla below C. É, È, and Ê are three different E characters with different marks. Copy the exact form rather than substituting a similar shape.
COMMON QUESTIONS
Questions about French accented letters
What are the five French accent marks?
French uses the acute accent, grave accent, circumflex, diaeresis, and cedilla. The language also uses the ligatures œ and æ.
Do French capital letters keep their accents?
Yes. When a word requires an accent or cedilla, the uppercase letter keeps it. Examples include É, À, and Ç.
How do I type é on a Mac?
On the US or ABC layout, press Option + E, release the keys, and press E. Hold Shift with the final E for É.
Can I replace œ with oe?
Some systems use oe as a fallback, but œ is the correct character in words that require the ligature. Follow the spelling and technical requirements of the destination.
Related character pages
References: Académie française language guidance, Unicode character charts, Apple accent entry guidance, Microsoft character code guidance.