![words with accent grave in french words with accent grave in french](https://www.sofi64.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Laccent-Aigu-697x1024.jpg)
An example would be sur, meaning on versus sûr, meaning sure. Thirdly, the circumflex is used to distinguish one word from another that is spelt the same way but pronounced differently.
![words with accent grave in french words with accent grave in french](https://www.frenchlearner.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/accent-trema.jpg)
For example, forêt ( for-ay, meaning forest from the Latin forestis). Secondly, it is used to show where another letter once existed in the Latin word the French word is derived from. Firstly, according to certain French language rules, it can change the pronunciation of the vowels a, e and o but never of e and i. The circumflex is a little pointed hat that can sit on top of any of the vowels a, e, i, o and u. Garçon, the French word for boy, has a cedilla. The cedilla is a tiny tail under the letter c in French words, and its function is to give the letter an s sound. An example of the use of the grave accented e can be found in très ( treh, meaning very ). It produces an ehh sound like that in set or get.
![words with accent grave in french words with accent grave in french](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/25/93/5f/25935fb2c8b7e0a483ea921857c4f526--french-grammar-french-classroom.jpg)
This accent points upward towards the left, so is like the opposite of the aigu. It only changes the sound over the e, however. The grave accent is also placed over the e but can also be used over other vowels. The aigua accent is only used over the letter e. It comes at the end of words too, for example in marché, which means market. It is very commonly used, and an example of its use would be in médecin ( may-deh-sehn, meaning doctor). The aigu accent is placed above the e vowel and changes the sound to ay. So let us take a look at each of the accents and see what each one does. They are easily recognisable visual symbols used in written and typed French that indicate how letters are to be sounded. There are five accents in the French alphabet, and they function as a guide to how words are to be pronounced. If you are learning French, by way of a French language School, or otherwise, a very important part of understanding the language is to have a working knowledge of the accents and how they are used.