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#aaa;font-size:88%;line-height:1.25em;background-color:var(--background-color-interactive-subtle,#f8f9fa);display:flow-root}.mw-parser-output .side-box-abovebelow,.mw-parser-output .side-box-text{padding:0.25em 0.9em}.mw-parser-output .side-box-image{padding:2px 0 2px 0.9em;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .side-box-imageright{padding:2px 0.9em 2px 0;text-align:center}@media(min-width:500px){.mw-parser-output .side-box-flex{display:flex;align-items:center}.mw-parser-output .side-box-text{flex:1;min-width:0}}@media(min-width:720px){.mw-parser-output .side-box{width:238px}.mw-parser-output .side-box-right{clear:right;float:right;margin-left:1em}.mw-parser-output .side-box-left{margin-right:1em}}</style><div class="side-box metadata side-box-right noprint selfref"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1126788409"> <div class="side-box-flex"> <div class="side-box-text plainlist">This article contains <a href="/wiki/Phonetic_transcription" title="Phonetic transcription">phonetic transcriptions</a> in the <a href="/wiki/International_Phonetic_Alphabet" title="International Phonetic Alphabet">International Phonetic Alphabet</a> (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see <a href="/wiki/Help:IPA" title="Help:IPA">Help:IPA</a>. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see <a href="/wiki/International_Phonetic_Alphabet#Brackets_and_transcription_delimiters" title="International Phonetic Alphabet">IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters</a>.</div></div> </div> French orthography encompasses the <a href="/wiki/Spelling" title="Spelling">spelling</a> and <a href="/wiki/Punctuation" title="Punctuation">punctuation</a> of the <a href="/wiki/French_language" title="French language">French language</a>. It is based on a combination of <a href="/wiki/Phoneme" title="Phoneme">phonemic</a> and historical principles. The spelling of words is largely based on the pronunciation of <a href="/wiki/Old_French" title="Old French">Old French</a> <abbr title="circa">c.</abbr> 1100–1200 AD, and has stayed more or less the same since then, despite enormous changes to the pronunciation of the language in the intervening years. Even in the late 17th century, with the publication of the <a href="/wiki/Dictionnaire_de_l%27Acad%C3%A9mie_fran%C3%A7aise" title="Dictionnaire de l'Académie française">first French dictionary</a> by the <a href="/wiki/Acad%C3%A9mie_Fran%C3%A7aise" title="Académie Française">Académie française</a>, there were attempts to <a href="/wiki/Reforms_of_French_orthography" title="Reforms of French orthography">reform French orthography</a>. This has resulted in a complicated relationship between spelling and sound, especially for vowels; a multitude of <a href="/wiki/Silent_letter" title="Silent letter">silent letters</a>; and many <a href="/wiki/Homophone" title="Homophone">homophones</a>, e.g. <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/saint#French" class="extiw" title="wikt:saint">saint</a>/<a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sein#French" class="extiw" title="wikt:sein">sein</a>/<a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sain#French" class="extiw" title="wikt:sain">sain</a>/<a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/seing#French" class="extiw" title="wikt:seing">seing</a>/<a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ceins#French" class="extiw" title="wikt:ceins">ceins</a>/<a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ceint#French" class="extiw" title="wikt:ceint">ceint</a> (all pronounced <a href="/wiki/Help:IPA/French" title="Help:IPA/French">[sɛ̃]</a>) and <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sang#French" class="extiw" title="wikt:sang">sang</a>/<a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sans#French" class="extiw" title="wikt:sans">sans</a>/<a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cent#French" class="extiw" title="wikt:cent">cent</a> (all pronounced <a href="/wiki/Help:IPA/French" title="Help:IPA/French">[sɑ̃]</a>). This is conspicuous in verbs: <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/parles#French" class="extiw" title="wikt:parles">parles</a> (you speak), <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/parle#French" class="extiw" title="wikt:parle">parle</a> (I speak / one speaks) and <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/parlent#French" class="extiw" title="wikt:parlent">parlent</a> (they speak) all sound like <a href="/wiki/Help:IPA/French" title="Help:IPA/French">[paʁl]</a>. Later attempts to respell some words in accordance with their <a href="/wiki/Latin" title="Latin">Latin</a> etymologies further increased the number of silent letters (e.g., <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/temps#Old_French" class="extiw" title="wikt:temps">temps</a> vs. older <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tans#French" class="extiw" title="wikt:tans">tans</a> – compare English "tense", which reflects the original spelling – and <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/vingt#French" class="extiw" title="wikt:vingt">vingt</a> vs. older <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/vint#Old_French" class="extiw" title="wikt:vint">vint</a>). Nevertheless, there are rules governing French orthography which allow for a reasonable degree of accuracy when pronouncing French words from their written forms. The reverse operation, producing written forms from pronunciation, is much more ambiguous. The French alphabet uses a number of <a href="/wiki/Diacritic" title="Diacritic">diacritics</a>, including the <a href="/wiki/Circumflex_in_French" title="Circumflex in French">circumflex</a>, <a href="/wiki/Diaeresis_(diacritic)" title="Diaeresis (diacritic)">diaeresis</a>, <a href="/wiki/Acute_accent" title="Acute accent">acute</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Grave_accent" title="Grave accent">grave</a> accents, as well as <a href="/wiki/Ligature_(writing)" title="Ligature (writing)">ligatures</a>. A <a href="/wiki/French_Braille" title="French Braille">system of braille</a> has been developed for people who are visually impaired. <div id="toc" class="toc" role="navigation" aria-labelledby="mw-toc-heading"><input type="checkbox" role="button" id="toctogglecheckbox" class="toctogglecheckbox" style="display:none"><div class="toctitle" lang="en" dir="ltr"><h2 id="mw-toc-heading">Contents</h2><label class="toctogglelabel" for="toctogglecheckbox"></label></div> <ul> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1"><a href="#Alphabet">1 Alphabet</a></li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-2"><a href="#Diacritics">2 Diacritics</a></li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-3"><a href="#Ligatures">3 Ligatures</a> <ul> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-4"><a href="#%C3%86">3.1 Æ</a></li> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-5"><a href="#%C5%92">3.2 Œ</a></li> </ul> </li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-6"><a href="#Digraphs_and_trigraphs">4 Digraphs and trigraphs</a></li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-7"><a href="#Spelling_to_sound_correspondences">5 Spelling to sound correspondences</a> <ul> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-8"><a href="#Consonants">5.1 Consonants</a></li> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-9"><a href="#Vowels">5.2 Vowels</a></li> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-10"><a href="#Vowels_and_consonants">5.3 Vowels and consonants</a></li> </ul> </li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-11"><a href="#Words_from_Greek">6 Words from Greek</a></li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-12"><a href="#History">7 History</a> <ul> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-13"><a href="#Roman">7.1 Roman</a></li> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-14"><a href="#Old_French">7.2 Old French</a></li> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-15"><a href="#Middle_French">7.3 Middle French</a></li> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-16"><a href="#Classical_French">7.4 Classical French</a></li> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-17"><a href="#Modern_French">7.5 Modern French</a></li> </ul> </li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-18"><a href="#Punctuation">8 Punctuation</a> <ul> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-19"><a href="#Hyphens">8.1 Hyphens</a></li> </ul> </li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-20"><a href="#See_also">9 See also</a></li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-21"><a href="#Notes">10 Notes</a></li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-22"><a href="#References">11 References</a></li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-23"><a href="#Bibliography">12 Bibliography</a></li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-24"><a href="#External_links">13 External links</a></li> </ul> </div> </section><div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 section-heading" onclick="mfTempOpenSection(1)"><h2 id="Alphabet">Alphabet</h2> <a role="button" href="/w/index.php?title=French_orthography&action=edit&section=1" title="Edit section: Alphabet" class="cdx-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--icon-only cdx-button--weight-quiet "> edit </a> </div><section class="mf-section-1 collapsible-block" id="mf-section-1"> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1235681985"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1096940132">.mw-parser-output .listen .side-box-text{line-height:1.1em}.mw-parser-output .listen-plain{border:none;background:transparent}.mw-parser-output .listen-embedded{width:100%;margin:0;border-width:1px 0 0 0;background:transparent}.mw-parser-output .listen-header{padding:2px}.mw-parser-output .listen-embedded .listen-header{padding:2px 0}.mw-parser-output .listen-file-header{padding:4px 0}.mw-parser-output .listen .description{padding-top:2px}.mw-parser-output .listen .mw-tmh-player{max-width:100%}@media(max-width:719px){.mw-parser-output .listen{clear:both}}@media(min-width:720px){.mw-parser-output .listen:not(.listen-noimage){width:320px}.mw-parser-output .listen-left{overflow:visible;float:left}.mw-parser-output .listen-center{float:none;margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto}}</style><div class="side-box side-box-right listen noprint"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1126788409"> <div class="side-box-flex"> <div class="side-box-image"><figure class="mw-halign-center" typeof="mw:File"><noscript><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/87/Gnome-mime-sound-openclipart.svg/50px-Gnome-mime-sound-openclipart.svg.png" decoding="async" width="50" height="50" class="mw-file-element" data-file-width="160" data-file-height="160"></noscript><span class="lazy-image-placeholder" style="width: 50px;height: 50px;" data-src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/87/Gnome-mime-sound-openclipart.svg/50px-Gnome-mime-sound-openclipart.svg.png" data-alt="" data-width="50" data-height="50" data-srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/87/Gnome-mime-sound-openclipart.svg/75px-Gnome-mime-sound-openclipart.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/87/Gnome-mime-sound-openclipart.svg/100px-Gnome-mime-sound-openclipart.svg.png 2x" data-class="mw-file-element"> <figcaption></figcaption></figure></div> <div class="side-box-text plainlist"><div class="haudio"> <div class="listen-file-header"><a href="/wiki/File:French_Grammar_-_The_French_Alphabet.ogg" title="File:French Grammar - The French Alphabet.ogg">French alphabet</a></div> <div><audio id="mwe_player_0" controls="" preload="none" data-mw-tmh="" class="mw-file-element" width="232" style="width:232px;" data-durationhint="26" data-mwtitle="French_Grammar_-_The_French_Alphabet.ogg" data-mwprovider="wikimediacommons"><source src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/French_Grammar_-_The_French_Alphabet.ogg" type='audio/ogg; codecs="vorbis"' data-width="0" data-height="0"></source><source src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/7/79/French_Grammar_-_The_French_Alphabet.ogg/French_Grammar_-_The_French_Alphabet.ogg.mp3" type="audio/mpeg" data-transcodekey="mp3" data-width="0" data-height="0"></source></audio></div> <div class="description">The letters of the French alphabet, spoken in Standard French</div></div></div></div> <div class="side-box-abovebelow"><hr>Problems playing this file? See <a href="/wiki/Help:Media" title="Help:Media">media help</a>.</div> </div> The French alphabet is based on the 26 letters of the <a href="/wiki/Latin_alphabet" title="Latin alphabet">Latin alphabet</a>, uppercase and lowercase, with five <a href="/wiki/Diacritic" title="Diacritic">diacritics</a> and two <a href="/wiki/Orthography" title="Orthography">orthographic</a> <a href="/wiki/Typographic_ligature" class="mw-redirect" title="Typographic ligature">ligatures</a>. <dl><dd><table class="wikitable"> <tbody><tr> <th>Letter </th> <th>Name </th> <th>Name (<a href="/wiki/International_Phonetic_Alphabet" title="International Phonetic Alphabet">IPA</a>) </th> <th>Diacritics and ligatures </th></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/A" title="A">A</a></td> <td>a</td> <td>/a/</td> <td><a href="/wiki/%C3%80" title="À">À</a>à, <a href="/wiki/%C3%82" title="Â">Â</a>â, <a href="/wiki/%C3%86" title="Æ">Æ</a>æ </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/B" title="B">B</a></td> <td>bé</td> <td>/be/</td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/C" title="C">C</a></td> <td>cé</td> <td>/se/</td> <td><a href="/wiki/%C3%87" title="Ç">Ç</a>ç </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/D" title="D">D</a></td> <td>dé</td> <td>/de/</td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/E" title="E">E</a></td> <td>e</td> <td>/ə/</td> <td><a href="/wiki/%C3%89" title="É">É</a>é, <a href="/wiki/%C3%88" title="È">È</a>è, <a href="/wiki/%C3%8A" title="Ê">Ê</a>ê, <a href="/wiki/%C3%8B" title="Ë">Ë</a>ë </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/F" title="F">F</a></td> <td>effe</td> <td>/ɛf/</td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/G" title="G">G</a></td> <td>gé</td> <td>/ʒe/</td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/H" title="H">H</a></td> <td>ache</td> <td>/aʃ/</td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/I" title="I">I</a></td> <td>i</td> <td>/i/</td> <td><a href="/wiki/%C3%8E" title="Î">Î</a>î, <a href="/wiki/%C3%8F" title="Ï">Ï</a>ï </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/J" title="J">J</a></td> <td>ji</td> <td>/ʒi/</td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/K" title="K">K</a></td> <td>ka</td> <td>/ka/</td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/L" title="L">L</a></td> <td>elle</td> <td>/ɛl/</td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/M" title="M">M</a></td> <td>emme</td> <td>/ɛm/</td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/N" title="N">N</a></td> <td>enne</td> <td>/ɛn/</td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/O" title="O">O</a></td> <td>o</td> <td>/o/</td> <td><a href="/wiki/%C3%94" class="mw-redirect" title="Ô">Ô</a>ô, <a href="/wiki/%C5%92" title="Œ">Œ</a>œ </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/P" title="P">P</a></td> <td>pé</td> <td>/pe/</td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/Q" title="Q">Q</a></td> <td>qu</td> <td>/ky/</td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/R" title="R">R</a></td> <td>erre</td> <td>/ɛʁ/</td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/S" title="S">S</a></td> <td>esse</td> <td>/ɛs/</td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/T" title="T">T</a></td> <td>té</td> <td>/te/</td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/U" title="U">U</a></td> <td>u</td> <td>/y/</td> <td><a href="/wiki/%C3%99" class="mw-redirect" title="Ù">Ù</a>ù, <a href="/wiki/%C3%9B" title="Û">Û</a>û, <a href="/wiki/%C3%9C" title="Ü">Ü</a>ü </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/V" title="V">V</a></td> <td>vé</td> <td>/ve/</td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/W" title="W">W</a></td> <td>double vé</td> <td>/dubləve/</td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/X" title="X">X</a></td> <td>ixe</td> <td>/iks/</td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/Y" title="Y">Y</a></td> <td>i grec</td> <td>/iɡʁɛk/</td> <td><a href="/wiki/%C5%B8" title="Ÿ">Ÿ</a>ÿ </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/Z" title="Z">Z</a></td> <td>zède</td> <td>/zɛd/</td> <td> </td></tr></tbody></table></dd></dl> ⟨w⟩ and ⟨k⟩ are rarely used except in <a href="/wiki/Loanword" title="Loanword">loanwords</a> and regional words. /w/ is usually written ⟨ou⟩; /k/ is usually written ⟨c⟩ anywhere but before ⟨e, i, y⟩, ⟨qu⟩ before ⟨e, i, y⟩, and sometimes ⟨que⟩ at the ends of words. However, ⟨k⟩ is common in the metric prefix kilo- (originally from Greek <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%CF%87%CE%AF%CE%BB%CE%B9%CE%B1#Greek" class="extiw" title="wikt:χίλια">χίλια</a> khilia "a thousand"), e.g. kilogramme, kilomètre, kilowatt, kilohertz. </section><div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 section-heading" onclick="mfTempOpenSection(2)"><h2 id="Diacritics">Diacritics</h2> <a role="button" href="/w/index.php?title=French_orthography&action=edit&section=2" title="Edit section: Diacritics" class="cdx-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--icon-only cdx-button--weight-quiet "> edit </a> </div><section class="mf-section-2 collapsible-block" id="mf-section-2"> The <a href="/wiki/Diacritic" title="Diacritic">diacritics</a> used in French orthography are the <a href="/wiki/Acute_accent" title="Acute accent">acute accent</a> (⟨◌́⟩; accent aigu), the <a href="/wiki/Grave_accent" title="Grave accent">grave accent</a> (⟨◌̀⟩; accent grave), the <a href="/wiki/Circumflex" title="Circumflex">circumflex</a> (⟨◌̂⟩; accent circonflexe), the <a href="/wiki/Diaeresis_(diacritic)" title="Diaeresis (diacritic)">diaeresis</a> (⟨◌̈⟩; tréma), and the <a href="/wiki/Cedilla" title="Cedilla">cedilla</a> (⟨◌̧⟩; cédille). Diacritics have no effect on the primary alphabetical order. <ul><li>An acute accent over ⟨e⟩ represents /e/. An ⟨é⟩ in modern French is often used where a combination of ⟨e⟩ and a consonant, usually ⟨s⟩, would have been used formerly, e.g. écouter < escouter.</li> <li>A grave accent over ⟨a⟩ or ⟨u⟩ is primarily used to distinguish homophones: à ("to") vs. a ("has"); ou ("or") vs. où ("where"; note that ⟨ù⟩ is only used in this word). A grave accent over ⟨e⟩ indicates /ɛ/ in positions where a plain ⟨e⟩ would be pronounced /ə/ (schwa). Many verb conjugations contain regular alternations between ⟨è⟩ and ⟨e⟩; for example, the accent mark in the present tense verb lève /lεv/ distinguishes the vowel's pronunciation from the schwa in the infinitive, lever /ləve/.</li> <li>A circumflex over ⟨a, e, o⟩ indicates /ɑ, ɛ, o/, respectively, but the distinction between ⟨a⟩ /a/ vs. ⟨â⟩ /ɑ/ is being lost in Parisian French, merging them as [a]. In Belgian French, ⟨ê⟩ is pronounced [ɛː]. Most often, it indicates the historical deletion of an adjacent letter (usually ⟨s⟩ or a vowel): château < castel, fête < feste, sûr < seur, dîner < disner (in medieval manuscripts many letters were often written as diacritical marks, e.g. the circumflex for ⟨/s/⟩ and the tilde for ⟨/n/⟩). It has also come to be used to distinguish homophones, e.g. du ("of the") vs. dû (past participle of devoir "to have to do something (pertaining to an act)"); however dû is in fact written thus because of a dropped ⟨e⟩: deu (see <a href="/wiki/Circumflex_in_French" title="Circumflex in French">Circumflex in French</a>). Since the 1990 orthographic changes, the circumflex on ⟨i⟩ and ⟨u⟩ can be dropped unless it distinguishes homophones, e.g. chaîne becomes chaine but sûr (sure) does not change to avoid ambiguity with the word sur (on).</li> <li>A diaeresis over ⟨e, i, u, y⟩ indicates a hiatus between the accented vowel and the vowel preceding it, e.g. naïve /naiv/, Noël /nɔɛl/. The diaeresis may also indicate a glide/diphthong, as in naïade /najad/. <ul><li>The combination ⟨oë⟩ is pronounced in the regular way if followed by ⟨n⟩ (<a href="/wiki/Samo%C3%ABns" title="Samoëns">Samoëns</a> /samwɛ̃/. An exception to this is <a href="/wiki/Citro%C3%ABn" title="Citroën">Citroën</a> /sitʁoɛn/).</li> <li>The combination ⟨aë⟩ is either pronounced /aɛ/ (Raphaël, Israël) or /a/ (<a href="/wiki/Madame_de_Sta%C3%ABl" class="mw-redirect" title="Madame de Staël">Staël</a>); it represents /ɑ̃/ if it precedes ⟨n⟩ (<a href="/wiki/Saint-Sa%C3%ABns" class="mw-redirect" title="Saint-Saëns">Saint-Saëns</a> <a href="/wiki/Help:IPA/French" title="Help:IPA/French">[sɛ̃sɑ̃(s)]</a>).</li> <li>A diaeresis on ⟨y⟩ only occurs in some proper names and in modern editions of old French texts, e.g. <a href="/wiki/A%C3%BF" title="Aÿ">Aÿ</a> /ai/ (commune in <a href="/wiki/Marne_(department)" title="Marne (department)">Marne</a>, now <a href="/wiki/A%C3%BF-Champagne" title="Aÿ-Champagne">Aÿ-Champagne</a>), Rue des Cloÿs ? (alley in the <a href="/wiki/18th_arrondissement_of_Paris" title="18th arrondissement of Paris">18th arrondissement of Paris</a>), Croÿ /kʁwi/ (family name and hotel on the Boulevard Raspail, Paris), Château du Feÿ /dyfei/? (near <a href="/wiki/Joigny" title="Joigny">Joigny</a>), Ghÿs /ɡis/? (name of Flemish origin spelt ⟨Ghĳs⟩ where cursive ⟨ĳ⟩ looked like ⟨ÿ⟩ to French clerks), <a href="/wiki/L%27Ha%C3%BF-les-Roses" title="L'Haÿ-les-Roses">L'Haÿ-les-Roses</a> /laj lɛ ʁoz/ (commune between Paris and <a href="/wiki/Orly" title="Orly">Orly</a> airport), <a href="/wiki/Pierre_Lou%C3%BFs" title="Pierre Louÿs">Pierre Louÿs</a> /luis/ (author), <a href="/wiki/Eug%C3%A8ne_Ysa%C3%BFe" title="Eugène Ysaÿe">Eugène Ysaÿe</a> /izai/ (violinist/composer), <a href="/wiki/Mo%C3%BF-de-l%27Aisne" title="Moÿ-de-l'Aisne">Moÿ-de-l'Aisne</a> /mɔidəlɛn/ (commune in <a href="/wiki/Aisne_(department)" class="mw-redirect" title="Aisne (department)">Aisne</a> and a family name), and Le Blanc de Nicolaÿ /nikɔlai/ (an insurance company in eastern France).</li> <li>The diaeresis on ⟨u⟩ appears in the Biblical proper names Archélaüs /aʁʃelay/?, Capharnaüm /kafaʁnaɔm/ (with ⟨üm⟩ for /ɔm/ as in words of Latin origin such as album, maximum, or chemical element names such as sodium, aluminium), Emmaüs /ɛmays/, Ésaü /ezay/, and Saül /sayl/, as well as French names such as <a href="/wiki/Ren%C3%A9_Just_Ha%C3%BCy" title="René Just Haüy">Haüy</a> /aɥi/.[<a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Cleanup" title="Wikipedia:Cleanup">WP-fr has as 3 syllables, [ayi]</a>] Nevertheless, since the 1990 orthographic changes, the diaeresis in words containing ⟨guë⟩ (such as aiguë /eɡy/ or ciguë /siɡy/) can be moved onto the ⟨u⟩: aigüe, cigüe, and by analogy may be used in verbs such as j'argüe. Without a diaeresis, the ⟨ue⟩ would be silent (or a schwa in accents which retain one): Aigues-Mortes /ɛɡ(ə)mɔʁt(ə)/.</li> <li>In addition, words of German origin retain their umlaut (⟨ä, ö, ü⟩) if applicable but often use French pronunciation, such as Kärcher (/kεʁʃɛʁ/ or /kaʁʃɛʁ/, trademark of a pressure washer).</li></ul></li> <li>A <a href="/wiki/Cedilla" title="Cedilla">cedilla</a> under ⟨c⟩ indicates that it is pronounced /s/ rather than /k/. Thus je lance "I throw" (with ⟨c⟩ for /s/ before ⟨e⟩), je lançais "I was throwing" (⟨c⟩ would represent /k/ before ⟨a⟩ without the cedilla). The cedilla is only used before ⟨a, o, u⟩, e.g. ça /sa/. A cedilla is not used before ⟨e, i, y⟩, since they already mark the ⟨c⟩ as /s/, e.g. ce, ci, cycle.</li></ul> A <a href="/wiki/Tilde" title="Tilde">tilde</a> (⟨◌̃⟩) above ⟨n⟩ is occasionally used in French for words and names of <a href="/wiki/Spanish_language" title="Spanish language">Spanish</a> origin that have been incorporated into the language (e.g., El Niño, piñata). Like the other diacritics, the tilde has no impact on the primary alphabetical order. Diacritics are often omitted on capital letters, mainly for technical reasons (not present on <a href="/wiki/AZERTY" title="AZERTY">AZERTY</a> keyboards). However both the <a href="/wiki/Acad%C3%A9mie_fran%C3%A7aise" class="mw-redirect" title="Académie française">Académie française</a> and the <a href="/wiki/Office_qu%C3%A9b%C3%A9cois_de_la_langue_fran%C3%A7aise" title="Office québécois de la langue française">Office québécois de la langue française</a> reject this usage and confirm that "in French, the accent has full orthographic value",<a href="#cite_note-1">[1]</a> except for acronyms but not for abbreviations (e.g., CEE, ALENA, but É.-U.).<a href="#cite_note-2">[2]</a> Nevertheless, diacritics are often ignored in word games, including <a href="/wiki/Crossword" title="Crossword">crosswords</a>, <a href="/wiki/Scrabble" title="Scrabble">Scrabble</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Des_chiffres_et_des_lettres" title="Des chiffres et des lettres">Des chiffres et des lettres</a>. </section><div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 section-heading" onclick="mfTempOpenSection(3)"><h2 id="Ligatures">Ligatures</h2> <a role="button" href="/w/index.php?title=French_orthography&action=edit&section=3" title="Edit section: Ligatures" class="cdx-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--icon-only cdx-button--weight-quiet "> edit </a> </div><section class="mf-section-3 collapsible-block" id="mf-section-3"> The <a href="/wiki/Ligature_(writing)" title="Ligature (writing)">ligatures</a> ⟨<a href="/wiki/%C3%86" title="Æ">æ</a>⟩ and ⟨<a href="/wiki/%C5%92" title="Œ">œ</a>⟩ are part of French orthography. For <a href="/wiki/Collation" title="Collation">collation</a>, these ligatures are treated like the sequences ⟨ae⟩ and ⟨oe⟩ respectively. <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Æ">Æ</h3> <a role="button" href="/w/index.php?title=French_orthography&action=edit&section=4" title="Edit section: Æ" class="cdx-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--icon-only cdx-button--weight-quiet "> edit </a> </div> ⟨æ⟩ (<a href="/wiki/French_language" title="French language">French</a>: e dans l'a, a-e entrelacé or a, e collés/liés) is rare, appearing only in some words of Latin and Greek origin like tænia, ex æquo, cæcum, æthuse (as named dog’s parsley).<a href="#cite_note-3">[3]</a> It generally represents the vowel /e/, like ⟨é⟩. The sequence ⟨ae⟩ appears in loanwords where both sounds are heard, as in maestro and paella.<a href="#cite_note-4">[4]</a> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Œ">Œ</h3> <a role="button" href="/w/index.php?title=French_orthography&action=edit&section=5" title="Edit section: Œ" class="cdx-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--icon-only cdx-button--weight-quiet "> edit </a> </div> ⟨œ⟩ (<a href="/wiki/French_language" title="French language">French</a>: e dans l'o, o-e entrelacé or o et e collés/liés) is a mandatory contraction of ⟨oe⟩ in certain words. Some of these are native French words, with the pronunciation /œ/ or /ø/, e.g. chœur "choir" /kœʁ/, cœur "heart" /kœʁ/, mœurs "moods (related to moral)" /mœʁ, mœʁs/, nœud "knot" /nø/, sœur "sister" /sœʁ/, œuf "egg" /œf/, œuvre "work (of art)" /œvʁ/, vœu "vow" /vø/. It usually appears in the combination ⟨œu⟩; œil /œj/ "eye" is an exception. Many of these words were originally written with the <a href="/wiki/Digraph_(orthography)" title="Digraph (orthography)">digraph</a> ⟨eu⟩; the ⟨o⟩ in the ligature represents a sometimes artificial attempt to imitate the Latin spelling: <a href="/wiki/Latin_language" class="mw-redirect" title="Latin language">Latin</a>: bovem > Old French buef/beuf > Modern French bœuf. ⟨œ⟩ is also used in words of Greek origin, as the Latin rendering of the Greek diphthong ⟨οι⟩, e.g. cœlacanthe "<a href="/wiki/Coelacanth" title="Coelacanth">coelacanth</a>". These words used to be pronounced with /e/, but in recent years a spelling pronunciation with /ø/ has taken hold, e.g. œsophage /ezɔfaʒ/ or /øzɔfaʒ/, Œdipe /edip/ or /ødip/ etc. The pronunciation with /e/ is often seen to be more correct. When ⟨œ⟩ is found after ⟨c⟩, the ⟨c⟩ can be pronounced /k/ in some cases (cœur), or /s/ in others (cœlacanthe). ⟨œ⟩ is not used when both letters contribute different sounds. For example, when ⟨o⟩ is part of a prefix (coexister), or when ⟨e⟩ is part of a suffix (minoen), or in the word moelle and its derivatives.<a href="#cite_note-5">[5]</a> </section><div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 section-heading" onclick="mfTempOpenSection(4)"><h2 id="Digraphs_and_trigraphs">Digraphs and trigraphs</h2> <a role="button" href="/w/index.php?title=French_orthography&action=edit&section=6" title="Edit section: Digraphs and trigraphs" class="cdx-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--icon-only cdx-button--weight-quiet "> edit </a> </div><section class="mf-section-4 collapsible-block" id="mf-section-4"> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1251242444">.mw-parser-output .ambox{border:1px solid #a2a9b1;border-left:10px solid #36c;background-color:#fbfbfb;box-sizing:border-box}.mw-parser-output .ambox+link+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+link+style+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+link+link+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+.mw-empty-elt+link+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+.mw-empty-elt+link+style+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+.mw-empty-elt+link+link+.ambox{margin-top:-1px}html body.mediawiki .mw-parser-output .ambox.mbox-small-left{margin:4px 1em 4px 0;overflow:hidden;width:238px;border-collapse:collapse;font-size:88%;line-height:1.25em}.mw-parser-output .ambox-speedy{border-left:10px solid #b32424;background-color:#fee7e6}.mw-parser-output .ambox-delete{border-left:10px solid #b32424}.mw-parser-output .ambox-content{border-left:10px solid #f28500}.mw-parser-output .ambox-style{border-left:10px solid #fc3}.mw-parser-output .ambox-move{border-left:10px solid #9932cc}.mw-parser-output .ambox-protection{border-left:10px solid #a2a9b1}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-text{border:none;padding:0.25em 0.5em;width:100%}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-image{border:none;padding:2px 0 2px 0.5em;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-imageright{border:none;padding:2px 0.5em 2px 0;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-empty-cell{border:none;padding:0;width:1px}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-image-div{width:52px}@media(min-width:720px){.mw-parser-output .ambox{margin:0 10%}}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .ambox{display:none!important}}</style><table class="box-Expand_section plainlinks metadata ambox mbox-small-left ambox-content" role="presentation"><tbody><tr><td class="mbox-text"><div class="mbox-text-span">This section needs expansion. You can help by <a class="external text" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=French_orthography&action=edit&section=">adding to it</a>. (August 2008)</div></td></tr></tbody></table> French digraphs and trigraphs have both historical and phonological origins. In the first case, it is a vestige of the spelling in the word's original language (usually Latin or Greek) maintained in modern French, e.g. the use of ⟨ph⟩ in téléphone, ⟨th⟩ in théorème, or ⟨ch⟩ in chaotique. In the second case, a digraph is due to an archaic pronunciation, such as ⟨eu⟩, ⟨au⟩, ⟨oi⟩, ⟨ai⟩, and ⟨œu⟩, or is merely a convenient way to expand the twenty-six-letter alphabet to cover all relevant phonemes, as in ⟨ch⟩, ⟨on⟩, ⟨an⟩, ⟨ou⟩, ⟨un⟩, and ⟨in⟩. Some cases are a mixture of these or are used for purely pragmatic reasons, such as ⟨ge⟩ for /ʒ/ in il mangeait ('he ate'), where the ⟨e⟩ serves to indicate a "soft" ⟨g⟩ inherent in the verb's root, similar to the significance of a cedilla to ⟨c⟩. </section><div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 section-heading" onclick="mfTempOpenSection(5)"><h2 id="Spelling_to_sound_correspondences">Spelling to sound correspondences</h2> <a role="button" href="/w/index.php?title=French_orthography&action=edit&section=7" title="Edit section: Spelling to sound correspondences" class="cdx-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--icon-only cdx-button--weight-quiet "> edit </a> </div><section class="mf-section-5 collapsible-block" id="mf-section-5"> Some exceptions apply to the rules governing the pronunciation of word-final consonants. See <a href="/wiki/Liaison_(French)" title="Liaison (French)">Liaison (French)</a> for details. <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Consonants">Consonants</h3> <a role="button" href="/w/index.php?title=French_orthography&action=edit&section=8" title="Edit section: Consonants" class="cdx-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--icon-only cdx-button--weight-quiet "> edit </a> </div> <table class="wikitable sortable"> <caption>Consonants and combinations of consonant letters </caption> <tbody><tr> <th colspan="2">Spelling</th> <th>Major value (IPA)</th> <th>Examples of major value</th> <th>Minor values (IPA)</th> <th>Examples of minor values</th> <th>Exceptions </th> <th>Foreign words </th></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">-bs, -cs (in the plural of words ending in silent ⟨b⟩ or ⟨c⟩), -ds, -fs (in œufs, bœufs, and plurals of words ending in a silent ⟨f⟩), ‑gs, -ps, -ts</td> <td>Ø</td> <td><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1038841319">.mw-parser-output .tooltip-dotted{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}</style>plombs, <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1038841319">blancs, <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1038841319">prends, <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1038841319">œufs (also /<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_labiodental_fricative" title="Voiceless labiodental fricative">f</a>/), <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1038841319">cerfs, <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1038841319">longs, <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1038841319"> draps, <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1038841319">achats</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_alveolar_plosive" class="mw-redirect" title="Voiceless alveolar plosive">t</a>/</td> <td>quarts</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_alveolar_plosive" class="mw-redirect" title="Voiced alveolar plosive">d</a>/ bavards </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td rowspan="3">b, bb</td> <td>elsewhere</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_bilabial_plosive" title="Voiced bilabial plosive">b</a>/</td> <td><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1038841319">ballon, abbé</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td>Ø Lefebvre </td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_labiodental_fricative" title="Voiced labiodental fricative">v</a>/ Habdalah </td></tr> <tr> <td>before a voiceless consonant</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_bilabial_plosive" title="Voiceless bilabial plosive">p</a>/</td> <td><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1038841319">absolu, observer, subtile</td> <td>Ø (before p)</td> <td>subpolar</td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>finally</td> <td>Ø</td> <td>plomb, Colomb</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_bilabial_plosive" title="Voiced bilabial plosive">b</a>/</td> <td><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1038841319">Jacob</td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">ç</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_alveolar_fricative" title="Voiceless alveolar fricative">s</a>/</td> <td><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1038841319">ça, garçon, reçu</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td rowspan="3">c</td> <td>before ⟨e, i, y⟩</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_alveolar_fricative" title="Voiceless alveolar fricative">s</a>/</td> <td><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1038841319">cyclone, loquace, douce, ciel, ceux</td> <td>Ø (after s or x)</td> <td>scene, exception</td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>initially/medially elsewhere</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_velar_plosive" title="Voiceless velar plosive">k</a>/</td> <td><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1038841319">cabas, crasse, cœur, sacré</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_alveolar_fricative" title="Voiceless alveolar fricative">s</a>/ (before æ and œ in scientific terms of Latin and Greek origin) Ø</td> <td>cæcum, cœlacanthe bifteck, knickerbockers, knickers (before k) (see also <a href="#aspect">-ct</a>, <a href="#acquit">cqu</a>, <a href="#succincte">-cte</a>)</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_velar_plosive" title="Voiced velar plosive">ɡ</a>/ second </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>finally</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_velar_plosive" title="Voiceless velar plosive">k</a>/</td> <td><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1038841319">lac, donc, parc</td> <td>Ø</td> <td><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1038841319"> tabac, blanc, caoutchouc</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_velar_plosive" title="Voiced velar plosive">ɡ</a>/ zinc </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td rowspan="2">cc</td> <td>before ⟨e, i, y⟩</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_velar_plosive" title="Voiceless velar plosive">k</a><a href="/wiki/Voiceless_alveolar_fricative" title="Voiceless alveolar fricative">s</a>/</td> <td><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1038841319">accès, accent</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_alveolar_fricative" title="Voiceless alveolar fricative">s</a>/ succion </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>elsewhere</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_velar_plosive" title="Voiceless velar plosive">k</a>/</td> <td><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1038841319">accord</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">ch</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_postalveolar_fricative" title="Voiceless postalveolar fricative">ʃ</a>/</td> <td><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1038841319">chat, douche</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_velar_plosive" title="Voiceless velar plosive">k</a>/ (often in words of Greek origin<a href="#cite_note-6">[6]</a>)</td> <td>chaotique, chlore, varech</td> <td>Ø yacht, almanach</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_postalveolar_affricate" title="Voiceless postalveolar affricate">tʃ</a>/ check-list, strech, coach </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">-ct</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_velar_plosive" title="Voiceless velar plosive">k</a><a href="/wiki/Voiceless_alveolar_plosive" class="mw-redirect" title="Voiceless alveolar plosive">t</a>/</td> <td><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1038841319">direct, correct</td> <td>Ø</td> <td>respect, suspect, instinct, succinct</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_alveolar_plosive" class="mw-redirect" title="Voiceless alveolar plosive">t</a>/ indict </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td rowspan="2">d, dd</td> <td>elsewhere</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_alveolar_plosive" class="mw-redirect" title="Voiced alveolar plosive">d</a>/</td> <td><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1038841319">doux, adresse, addition</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>finally</td> <td>Ø</td> <td><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1038841319">pied, accord</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_alveolar_plosive" class="mw-redirect" title="Voiced alveolar plosive">d</a>/</td> <td>David, sud</td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">dj</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_postalveolar_affricate" title="Voiced postalveolar affricate">dʒ</a>/</td> <td>adjectif</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">f, ff</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_labiodental_fricative" title="Voiceless labiodental fricative">f</a>/</td> <td><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1038841319">fait, affoler, soif</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td>Ø clef, cerf, nerf </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td rowspan="3">g</td> <td>before ⟨e, i, y⟩</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_postalveolar_fricative" title="Voiced postalveolar fricative">ʒ</a>/</td> <td><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1038841319">gens, manger</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_postalveolar_affricate" title="Voiced postalveolar affricate">dʒ</a>/</td> <td>gin, adagio, management</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_velar_plosive" title="Voiced velar plosive">ɡ</a>/ gifter </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>initially/medially elsewhere</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_velar_plosive" title="Voiced velar plosive">ɡ</a>/</td> <td><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1038841319">gain, glacier</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>finally</td> <td>Ø</td> <td><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1038841319">joug, long, sang</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_velar_plosive" title="Voiced velar plosive">ɡ</a>/</td> <td>erg, zigzag</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_glottal_fricative" title="Voiceless glottal fricative">h</a>/ keg </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td rowspan="2">gg</td> <td>before ⟨e, i, y⟩</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_velar_plosive" title="Voiced velar plosive">ɡ</a><a href="/wiki/Voiced_postalveolar_fricative" title="Voiced postalveolar fricative">ʒ</a>/</td> <td><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1038841319">suggérer</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td> </td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_velar_plosive" title="Voiced velar plosive">g</a>/ buggy </td></tr> <tr> <td>elsewhere</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_velar_plosive" title="Voiced velar plosive">ɡ</a>/</td> <td><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1038841319">aggraver</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">gn</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_palatal_nasal" title="Voiced palatal nasal">ɲ</a>/</td> <td><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1038841319">montagne, agneau, gnôle</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_velar_plosive" title="Voiced velar plosive">ɡ</a><a href="/wiki/Voiced_alveolar_nasal" class="mw-redirect" title="Voiced alveolar nasal">n</a>/</td> <td>gnose, gnou</td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">h</td> <td>Ø</td> <td><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1038841319">habite, hiver</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_palatal_approximant" title="Voiced palatal approximant">j</a>/ (intervocalic)</td> <td>Sahara</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_glottal_fricative" title="Voiceless glottal fricative">h</a>/ ahaner, hit </td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_velar_fricative" title="Voiceless velar fricative">x</a>/ Rahel /<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_postalveolar_fricative" title="Voiceless postalveolar fricative">ʃ</a>/ sinh, tanh, asinh, atanh </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">j</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_postalveolar_fricative" title="Voiced postalveolar fricative">ʒ</a>/</td> <td><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1038841319"> joue, jeter</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_postalveolar_affricate" title="Voiced postalveolar affricate">dʒ</a>/</td> <td>jean, jazz</td> <td> </td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_palatal_approximant" title="Voiced palatal approximant">j</a>/ halelujah, fjord /<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_velar_fricative" title="Voiceless velar fricative">x</a>/ jota, marijuana </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">k</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_velar_plosive" title="Voiceless velar plosive">k</a>/</td> <td><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1038841319">alkyler, kilomètre, bifteck</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td>Ø knock-out, knickerbockers </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">l, ll</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_alveolar_lateral_approximant" class="mw-redirect" title="Voiced alveolar lateral approximant">l</a>/</td> <td><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1038841319">lait, allier, il, royal, matériel</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_palatal_approximant" title="Voiced palatal approximant">j</a>/ (after i) Ø (occasionally finally)</td> <td>soleil, Meilhac, grillage cul, fusil, saoul</td> <td>Ø fils, aulne, aulx (see also <a href="#anchoril">-il</a>) </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">m, mm</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_bilabial_nasal" title="Voiced bilabial nasal">m</a>/</td> <td><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1038841319">mou, pomme</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td>Ø automne, condamner </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">n, nn</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_alveolar_nasal" class="mw-redirect" title="Voiced alveolar nasal">n</a>/</td> <td><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1038841319">nouvel, panne</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td>Ø monsieur (see also <a href="#anchorent">-ent</a>) </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">-ng (without nasal n)</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_velar_nasal" title="Voiced velar nasal">ŋ</a>/</td> <td><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1038841319">parking, camping</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td> </td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_alveolar_nasal" class="mw-redirect" title="Voiced alveolar nasal">n</a><a href="/wiki/Voiced_velar_plosive" title="Voiced velar plosive">g</a>/ gang </td></tr> <tr> <td rowspan="2">p, pp</td> <td>elsewhere</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_bilabial_plosive" title="Voiceless bilabial plosive">p</a>/</td> <td><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1038841319">pain, appel</td> <td>Ø</td> <td>baptême, sept, apfel, pfefferoni</td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>finally</td> <td>Ø</td> <td>coup, trop</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_bilabial_plosive" title="Voiceless bilabial plosive">p</a>/</td> <td><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1038841319">cap, cep</td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">ph, pph</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_labiodental_fricative" title="Voiceless labiodental fricative">f</a>/</td> <td><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1038841319">téléphone, photo, sapphire</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">pt</td> <td>/pt/</td> <td><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1038841319">ptérodactyle, <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1038841319">adapter, excepter, ptôse, <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1038841319"> concept</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_alveolar_plosive" class="mw-redirect" title="Voiceless alveolar plosive">t</a>/</td> <td>baptême, compter, sept</td> <td>Ø prompt (also pt) </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">q (see <a href="#anchorqu">qu</a>)</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_velar_plosive" title="Voiceless velar plosive">k</a>/</td> <td><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1038841319">coq, cinq, piqûre (in new orthography, piqure), Qatar</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">r, rr</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_uvular_fricative" title="Voiced uvular fricative">ʁ</a>/</td> <td><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1038841319">rat, barre</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td>Ø monsieur, gars (see also <a href="#anchorer">-er</a>) </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td rowspan="3">s</td> <td>initially medially next to a consonant or after a nasal vowel</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_alveolar_fricative" title="Voiceless alveolar fricative">s</a>/</td> <td><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1038841319">sacre, estime, penser, instituer</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_alveolar_fricative" title="Voiced alveolar fricative">z</a>/</td> <td>Alsace, transat, transiter</td> <td>Ø <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1038841319">Island, mesdames, mesdemoiselles, Descartes (also /<a href="/wiki/Voiced_palatal_approximant" title="Voiced palatal approximant">j</a>/), messieurs (not considered double s), messeigneurs (not considered double s), Debusclin (see also <a href="#schlague">sch</a>) </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>elsewhere between two vowels</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_alveolar_fricative" title="Voiced alveolar fricative">z</a>/</td> <td><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1038841319">rose, paysage</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_alveolar_fricative" title="Voiceless alveolar fricative">s</a>/</td> <td>antisèche, parasol, vraisemblable</td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>finally</td> <td>Ø</td> <td><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1038841319">dans, repas</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_alveolar_fricative" title="Voiceless alveolar fricative">s</a>/</td> <td>fils, sens (noun), os (singular), ours</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_palatal_approximant" title="Voiced palatal approximant">j</a>/ bos </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td rowspan="2">sc</td> <td>before ⟨e, i, y⟩</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_alveolar_fricative" title="Voiceless alveolar fricative">s</a>/</td> <td><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1038841319">science</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_postalveolar_fricative" title="Voiceless postalveolar fricative">ʃ</a>/ fasciste </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>elsewhere</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_alveolar_fricative" title="Voiceless alveolar fricative">s</a><a href="/wiki/Voiceless_velar_plosive" title="Voiceless velar plosive">k</a>/</td> <td><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1038841319">script</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">sch</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_postalveolar_fricative" title="Voiceless postalveolar fricative">ʃ</a>/</td> <td><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1038841319">schlague, haschisch, esche</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_alveolar_fricative" title="Voiceless alveolar fricative">s</a><a href="/wiki/Voiceless_velar_plosive" title="Voiceless velar plosive">k</a>/</td> <td>schizoïde, ischion, æschne</td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">sh</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_postalveolar_fricative" title="Voiceless postalveolar fricative">ʃ</a>/</td> <td><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1038841319">flash</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">ss</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_alveolar_fricative" title="Voiceless alveolar fricative">s</a>/</td> <td><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1038841319">baisser, passer</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">-st</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_alveolar_fricative" title="Voiceless alveolar fricative">s</a><a href="/wiki/Voiceless_alveolar_plosive" class="mw-redirect" title="Voiceless alveolar plosive">t</a>/</td> <td>est (direction), ouest, podcast</td> <td>Ø</td> <td>est (verb), Jésus-Christ (also /<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_alveolar_fricative" title="Voiceless alveolar fricative">s</a><a href="/wiki/Voiceless_alveolar_plosive" class="mw-redirect" title="Voiceless alveolar plosive">t</a>/)</td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td rowspan="2">t, tt</td> <td>elsewhere</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_alveolar_plosive" class="mw-redirect" title="Voiceless alveolar plosive">t</a>/</td> <td><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1038841319">tout, attente</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_alveolar_fricative" title="Voiceless alveolar fricative">s</a>/</td> <td>nation (see <a href="#anchorti">ti + vowel</a>)</td> <td>Ø hautbois, asthme /<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_postalveolar_fricative" title="Voiceless postalveolar fricative">ʃ</a>/ minutia (see <a href="#anchorti">ti + vowel</a>)</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_alveolar_fricative" title="Voiceless alveolar fricative">s</a>/ thread </td></tr> <tr> <td>finally</td> <td>Ø</td> <td><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1038841319">tant, raffut</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_alveolar_plosive" class="mw-redirect" title="Voiceless alveolar plosive">t</a>/</td> <td>dot, brut, yaourt</td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">tch</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_postalveolar_affricate" title="Voiceless postalveolar affricate">t͡ʃ</a>/</td> <td><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1038841319">tchat, match, Tchad</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">th</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_alveolar_plosive" class="mw-redirect" title="Voiceless alveolar plosive">t</a>/</td> <td><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1038841319">thème, thermique, aneth</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td>Ø asthme, bizuth, goth </td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_alveolar_fricative" title="Voiceless alveolar fricative">s</a>/ thread </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">v</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_labiodental_fricative" title="Voiced labiodental fricative">v</a>/</td> <td><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1038841319"> ville, vanne</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">w</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_labial%E2%80%93velar_approximant" title="Voiced labial–velar approximant">w</a>/ /<a href="/wiki/Voiced_labiodental_fricative" title="Voiced labiodental fricative">v</a>/</td> <td><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1038841319">kiwi, week-end (in new orthography, weekend), whisky wagon, schwa, interviewer</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_alveolar_fricative" title="Voiceless alveolar fricative">s</a>/ <a href="/wiki/John_Law_(economist)" title="John Law (economist)"> Law</a> (see <a href="#anchoraw">aw</a>, <a href="#anchorew">ew</a>, <a href="#anchorow">ow</a> for more details) </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td rowspan="3">x</td> <td>initially next to a voiceless consonant phonologically finally</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_velar_plosive" title="Voiceless velar plosive">k</a><a href="/wiki/Voiceless_alveolar_fricative" title="Voiceless alveolar fricative">s</a>/</td> <td><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1038841319">xylophone, expansion, connexe</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_velar_plosive" title="Voiced velar plosive">ɡ</a><a href="/wiki/Voiced_alveolar_fricative" title="Voiced alveolar fricative">z</a>/</td> <td>xénophobie, Xavier</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_velar_plosive" title="Voiceless velar plosive">k</a>/ xhosa /<a href="/wiki/Voiced_uvular_fricative" title="Voiced uvular fricative">ʁ</a>/ xérès (also /<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_velar_plosive" title="Voiceless velar plosive">k</a><a href="/wiki/Voiceless_alveolar_fricative" title="Voiceless alveolar fricative">s</a>, <a href="/wiki/Voiced_velar_plosive" title="Voiced velar plosive">ɡ</a><a href="/wiki/Voiced_alveolar_fricative" title="Voiced alveolar fricative">z</a>/) Ø auxquels, auxquelles </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>medially elsewhere</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_velar_plosive" title="Voiceless velar plosive">k</a><a href="/wiki/Voiceless_alveolar_fricative" title="Voiceless alveolar fricative">s</a>/</td> <td>galaxie, maximum</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_alveolar_fricative" title="Voiceless alveolar fricative">s</a>/ /<a href="/wiki/Voiced_alveolar_fricative" title="Voiced alveolar fricative">z</a>/ /<a href="/wiki/Voiced_velar_plosive" title="Voiced velar plosive">ɡ</a><a href="/wiki/Voiced_alveolar_fricative" title="Voiced alveolar fricative">z</a>/</td> <td>soixante, Bruxelles deuxième exigence</td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>finally</td> <td>Ø</td> <td><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1038841319">paix, deux</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_velar_plosive" title="Voiceless velar plosive">k</a><a href="/wiki/Voiceless_alveolar_fricative" title="Voiceless alveolar fricative">s</a>/</td> <td>index, pharynx</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_alveolar_fricative" title="Voiceless alveolar fricative">s</a>/ six, dix, coccyx </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td rowspan="2">xc</td> <td>before ⟨e, i, y⟩</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_velar_plosive" title="Voiceless velar plosive">k</a><a href="/wiki/Voiceless_alveolar_fricative" title="Voiceless alveolar fricative">s</a>/</td> <td><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1038841319">exciter</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>elsewhere</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_velar_plosive" title="Voiceless velar plosive">k</a><a href="/wiki/Voiceless_alveolar_fricative" title="Voiceless alveolar fricative">s</a><a href="/wiki/Voiceless_velar_plosive" title="Voiceless velar plosive">k</a>/</td> <td><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1038841319">excavation</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td rowspan="2">z, zz</td> <td>elsewhere</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_alveolar_fricative" title="Voiced alveolar fricative">z</a>/</td> <td><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1038841319">zain, gazette, pizza (and any other word with double z)</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td> </td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_alveolar_fricative" title="Voiceless alveolar fricative">s</a>/ tzar /<a href="/wiki/Voiced_alveolar_affricate" title="Voiced alveolar affricate">dz</a>/ Zeus, canzonetta, muezzin </td></tr> <tr> <td>finally</td> <td>Ø</td> <td><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1038841319">chez</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_alveolar_fricative" title="Voiced alveolar fricative">z</a>/</td> <td>jazz (and any other word with double z), gaz, fez, merguez</td> <td> </td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_alveolar_fricative" title="Voiceless alveolar fricative">s</a>/ quartz /<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_alveolar_affricate" title="Voiceless alveolar affricate">ts</a>/ kronprinz </td></tr> </tbody></table> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Vowels">Vowels</h3> <a role="button" href="/w/index.php?title=French_orthography&action=edit&section=9" title="Edit section: Vowels" class="cdx-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--icon-only cdx-button--weight-quiet "> edit </a> </div> <table class="wikitable sortable"> <caption>Vowels and combinations of vowel letters </caption> <tbody><tr> <th colspan="2">Spelling</th> <th>Major value (<a href="/wiki/Help:IPA/French" title="Help:IPA/French">IPA</a>)</th> <th>Examples of major value</th> <th>Minor values (IPA)</th> <th>Examples of minor value</th> <th>Exceptions </th> <th>Foreign words </th></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">a, à</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open front unrounded vowel">a</a>/</td> <td>patte, arable, là, déjà</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open_back_unrounded_vowel" title="Open back unrounded vowel">ɑ</a>/ ∅</td> <td>araser, base, condamner saoul, curacao, reggae</td> <td> </td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open-mid_back_rounded_vowel" title="Open-mid back rounded vowel">ɔ</a>/ yacht (also /<a href="/wiki/Close-mid_back_rounded_vowel" title="Close-mid back rounded vowel">o</a>/) /<a href="/wiki/Close-mid_back_rounded_vowel" title="Close-mid back rounded vowel">o</a>/ football /<a href="/wiki/Close-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close-mid front unrounded vowel">e</a>/ lady /<a href="/wiki/Open-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open-mid front unrounded vowel">ɛ</a>/ flash, catcher </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">â</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open_back_unrounded_vowel" title="Open back unrounded vowel">ɑ</a>/</td> <td>château, pâté</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open front unrounded vowel">a</a>/</td> <td>dégât (also /<a href="/wiki/Open_back_unrounded_vowel" title="Open back unrounded vowel">ɑ</a>/), parlâmes, liâtes, menât (simple past and imperfect subjunctive verb endings -âmes, -âtes, and -ât)</td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">aa</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open front unrounded vowel">a</a>/</td> <td>graal, Baal, maastrichtois</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open front unrounded vowel">a</a>.<a href="/wiki/Open_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open front unrounded vowel">a</a>/</td> <td>aa</td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">æ</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Close-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close-mid front unrounded vowel">e</a>/</td> <td>ex-æquo, cæcum</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">ae</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Close-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close-mid front unrounded vowel">e</a>/</td> <td>reggae</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open front unrounded vowel">a</a>/</td> <td>groenendael, maelstrom, Portaels</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open front unrounded vowel">a</a>.<a href="/wiki/Open-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open-mid front unrounded vowel">ɛ</a>/ maestro /<a href="/wiki/Open_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open front unrounded vowel">a</a>.<a href="/wiki/Close-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close-mid front unrounded vowel">e</a>/ paella </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">aë</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open front unrounded vowel">a</a>.<a href="/wiki/Open-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open-mid front unrounded vowel">ɛ</a>/</td> <td>Raphaël, Israël</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open front unrounded vowel">a</a>/ Staël </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">ai</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open-mid front unrounded vowel">ɛ</a>/ (/<a href="/wiki/Close-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close-mid front unrounded vowel">e</a>/)</td> <td>vrai, faite ai, aiguille, baisser, gai, quai</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Close-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close-mid front unrounded vowel">e</a>/</td> <td>lançai, mangerai (future and simple past verb forms ending in -ai or -rai)</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Mid_central_vowel" title="Mid central vowel">ə</a>/ faisan, faisons,<a href="#cite_note-7">[7]</a> (and all other conjugated forms of faire which are spelt fais- and followed by a pronounced vowel) </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">aî (in new orthography ⟨ai⟩)</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open-mid front unrounded vowel">ɛː</a>/</td> <td>maître, chaîne (in new orthography, maitre, chaine)</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td rowspan="2">aï </td> <td>before a consonant</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open front unrounded vowel">a</a><a href="/wiki/Syllable" title="Syllable">.</a><a href="/wiki/Close_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close front unrounded vowel">i</a>/</td> <td>naïf, haïr</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>before a vowel </td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open front unrounded vowel">a</a><a href="/wiki/Voiced_palatal_approximant" title="Voiced palatal approximant">j</a>/ </td> <td>aïe, aïeul, haïe, païen </td> <td> </td> <td> </td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">aie</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open-mid front unrounded vowel">ɛ</a>/</td> <td>baie, monnaie</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open-mid front unrounded vowel">ɛ</a><a href="/wiki/Voiced_palatal_approximant" title="Voiced palatal approximant">j</a>/</td> <td>paie (also paye)</td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td rowspan="2">ao, aô</td> <td>phonologically closed syllable</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open front unrounded vowel">a</a><a href="/wiki/Syllable" title="Syllable">.</a><a href="/wiki/Open-mid_back_rounded_vowel" title="Open-mid back rounded vowel">ɔ</a>/</td> <td>aorte, extraordinaire (also /<a href="/wiki/Open-mid_back_rounded_vowel" title="Open-mid back rounded vowel">ɔ</a>/)</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open front unrounded vowel">a</a>/ faonne /<a href="/wiki/Close-mid_back_rounded_vowel" title="Close-mid back rounded vowel">o</a>/ Saône </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>phonologically open syllable</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open front unrounded vowel">a</a><a href="/wiki/Syllable" title="Syllable">.</a><a href="/wiki/Close-mid_back_rounded_vowel" title="Close-mid back rounded vowel">o</a>/</td> <td>cacao, chaos, baobab</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open front unrounded vowel">a</a>/ paonneau /<a href="/wiki/Close-mid_back_rounded_vowel" title="Close-mid back rounded vowel">o</a>/ curaçao </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">aou, aoû</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open front unrounded vowel">a</a><a href="/wiki/Syllable" title="Syllable">.</a><a href="/wiki/Close_back_rounded_vowel" title="Close back rounded vowel">u</a>/</td> <td>caoutchouc, aoûtien (in new orthography, aoutien), yaourt</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Close_back_rounded_vowel" title="Close back rounded vowel">u</a>/</td> <td>saoul, août (in new orthography, aout)</td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td rowspan="2">au</td> <td>elsewhere</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Close-mid_back_rounded_vowel" title="Close-mid back rounded vowel">o</a>/</td> <td>haut, augure</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open-mid_back_rounded_vowel" title="Open-mid back rounded vowel">ɔ</a>/ Paul </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>before ⟨r⟩</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open-mid_back_rounded_vowel" title="Open-mid back rounded vowel">ɔ</a>/</td> <td>dinosaure, Aurélie, Laurent (also /<a href="/wiki/Close-mid_back_rounded_vowel" title="Close-mid back rounded vowel">o</a>/)</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td rowspan="2">ay</td> <td>elsewhere</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open-mid front unrounded vowel">ɛ</a><a href="/wiki/Voiced_palatal_approximant" title="Voiced palatal approximant">j</a>/</td> <td>ayons, essayer (also /<a href="/wiki/Close-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close-mid front unrounded vowel">e</a><a href="/wiki/Voiced_palatal_approximant" title="Voiced palatal approximant">j</a>/)</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open front unrounded vowel">a</a><a href="/wiki/Voiced_palatal_approximant" title="Voiced palatal approximant">j</a>/</td> <td>mayonnaise, papaye, ayoye</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Close-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close-mid front unrounded vowel">e</a><a href="/wiki/Syllable" title="Syllable">.</a><a href="/wiki/Close_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close front unrounded vowel">i</a>/ pays (also /<a href="/wiki/Open-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open-mid front unrounded vowel">ɛ</a><a href="/wiki/Syllable" title="Syllable">.</a><a href="/wiki/Close_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close front unrounded vowel">i</a>/), abbaye /<a href="/wiki/Open_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open front unrounded vowel">a</a><a href="/wiki/Syllable" title="Syllable">.</a><a href="/wiki/Close_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close front unrounded vowel">i</a>/ Defays </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>finally</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open-mid front unrounded vowel">ɛ</a>/</td> <td>Gamay, margay, railway</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td> </td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Close-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close-mid front unrounded vowel">e</a>/ okay </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">-aye</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open-mid front unrounded vowel">ɛ</a><a href="/wiki/Syllable" title="Syllable">.</a><a href="/wiki/Close_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close front unrounded vowel">i</a>/</td> <td>abbaye</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open-mid front unrounded vowel">ɛ</a><a href="/wiki/Voiced_palatal_approximant" title="Voiced palatal approximant">j</a>/</td> <td>paye</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open-mid front unrounded vowel">ɛ</a>/ La Haye /<a href="/wiki/Open_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open front unrounded vowel">a</a><a href="/wiki/Voiced_palatal_approximant" title="Voiced palatal approximant">j</a>/ baye </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td rowspan="4">e</td> <td>elsewhere</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Mid_central_vowel" title="Mid central vowel">ə</a>/ ∅ (in a position where it can be easily elided)</td> <td>repeser, genoux franchement, acheter (also /<a href="/wiki/Mid_central_vowel" title="Mid central vowel">ə</a>/), eu, eû, eussions, eûmes (see <a href="#anchoreu">eu</a> and <a href="#anchore%C3%BB">eû</a>)</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open-mid front unrounded vowel">ɛ</a>/</td> <td>reine</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Close-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close-mid front unrounded vowel">e</a>/ revolver (in new orthography, révolver), Clemenceau </td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Close_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close front unrounded vowel">i</a>/ bewarer </td></tr> <tr> <td>before multiple consonants, ⟨x⟩, or a final spoken consonant or silent ⟨t⟩)</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open-mid front unrounded vowel">ɛ</a>/</td> <td>est, estival, voyelle, examiner, exécuter, quel, chalet</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Close-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close-mid front unrounded vowel">e</a>/ (before double consonant) /<a href="/wiki/Mid_central_vowel" title="Mid central vowel">ə</a>/</td> <td>essence, effet, henné recherche, secrète, repli (before ⟨ch⟩+vowel or a consonant (except ⟨l, r⟩) followed by ⟨l, r⟩)</td> <td> /<a href="/wiki/Close-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close-mid front unrounded vowel">e</a>/ et, pieds (and any other noun plural ending in (consonant other than t)+s) /<a href="/wiki/Open_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open front unrounded vowel">a</a>/ femme, solennel, fréquemment, (and other adverbs ending in -emment)<a href="#cite_note-8">[8]</a> /<a href="/wiki/Open-mid_front_rounded_vowel" title="Open-mid front rounded vowel">œ</a>/ Gennevilliers (see also <a href="#anchorer">-er</a>) (see also <a href="#anchorae">ae</a>) </td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Close_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close front unrounded vowel">i</a>/ forester ∅ cokes </td></tr> <tr> <td>before a silent consonant other than ⟨t⟩ or cons.+⟨t⟩</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Close-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close-mid front unrounded vowel">e</a>/</td> <td>les, nez, clef, mangez, (and any form of a verb in the second person plural that ends in -ez), assez (see also <a href="#anchorer">-er</a>, <a href="#anchores">-es</a>), mesdames, mesdemoiselles (also /<a href="/wiki/Open-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open-mid front unrounded vowel">ɛ</a>/), Descartes (also /<a href="/wiki/Open-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open-mid front unrounded vowel">ɛ</a>/), eh, prehnite</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open-mid front unrounded vowel">ɛ</a>/ Lebesgue (see also <a href="#anchores">-es</a>) </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>finally</td> <td>∅</td> <td>caisse, unique</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Mid_central_vowel" title="Mid central vowel">ə</a>/</td> <td>que, de, je (in monosyllables), quatre, parle, chambre, répondre, hymne, indemne, syntagme (after two or more consonants of which the last is r, l, m or n), presque, puisque, quelque (the compound adjective pronouns ending in -que) (see also <a href="#anchorae">ae</a>)</td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">é, ée</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Close-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close-mid front unrounded vowel">e</a>/</td> <td>clé, échapper, idée</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open-mid front unrounded vowel">ɛ</a>/ (in closed syllables) événement, céderai, vénerie (in new orthography, évènement, cèderai, vènerie) </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">è</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open-mid front unrounded vowel">ɛ</a>/</td> <td>relève, zèle</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td rowspan="2">ê </td> <td>phonologically finally or in closed syllables</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open-mid front unrounded vowel">ɛː</a>/</td> <td>tête, crêpe, forêt, prêt</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>in open syllables </td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open-mid front unrounded vowel">ɛː</a>, <a href="/wiki/Close-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close-mid front unrounded vowel">e</a>/ </td> <td>bêtise </td> <td> </td> <td> </td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">ea (except after ⟨g⟩)</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Close_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close front unrounded vowel">i</a>/</td> <td>dealer, leader, speaker (in new orthography, dealeur, leadeur, speakeur)</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">ee</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Close_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close front unrounded vowel">i</a>/</td> <td>week-end (in new orthography, weekend), spleen</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Close-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close-mid front unrounded vowel">e</a>/ pedigree (also pédigré(e)) </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">eau</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Close-mid_back_rounded_vowel" title="Close-mid back rounded vowel">o</a>/</td> <td>eau, oiseaux</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">ei</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open-mid front unrounded vowel">ɛ</a>/</td> <td>neige (also /<a href="/wiki/Open-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open-mid front unrounded vowel">ɛː</a>/), reine (also /<a href="/wiki/Open-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open-mid front unrounded vowel">ɛː</a>/), geisha (also /<a href="/wiki/Open-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open-mid front unrounded vowel">ɛ</a><a href="/wiki/Voiced_palatal_approximant" title="Voiced palatal approximant">j</a>/)</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">eî</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open-mid front unrounded vowel">ɛː</a>/</td> <td>reître (in new orthography, reitre)</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">eoi</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_labial%E2%80%93velar_approximant" title="Voiced labial–velar approximant">w</a><a href="/wiki/Open_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open front unrounded vowel">a</a>/</td> <td>asseoir (in new orthography, assoir)</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td rowspan="2">eu</td> <td>initially or phonologically finally or before /<a href="/wiki/Voiced_alveolar_fricative" title="Voiced alveolar fricative">z</a>/</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Close-mid_front_rounded_vowel" title="Close-mid front rounded vowel">ø</a>/</td> <td>Europe, heureux, peu, chanteuse</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Close_front_rounded_vowel" title="Close front rounded vowel">y</a>/ eu, eussions, (verb forms of avoir with initial ⟨eu⟩-) </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>elsewhere</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open-mid_front_rounded_vowel" title="Open-mid front rounded vowel">œ</a>/</td> <td>beurre, jeune</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Close-mid_front_rounded_vowel" title="Close-mid front rounded vowel">ø</a>/ (in closed and unstressed syllables)</td> <td>feutre, neutre, pleuvoir</td> <td>gageure (in new orthography, gageüre) </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">eû</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Close-mid_front_rounded_vowel" title="Close-mid front rounded vowel">ø</a>/</td> <td>jeûne</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Close_front_rounded_vowel" title="Close front rounded vowel">y</a>/ eûmes, eût, (and any conjugated forms of avoir spelt with eû-) </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td rowspan="2">ey</td> <td>before vowel</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open-mid front unrounded vowel">ɛ</a><a href="/wiki/Voiced_palatal_approximant" title="Voiced palatal approximant">j</a>/</td> <td>gouleyant, volleyer</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>finally</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open-mid front unrounded vowel">ɛ</a>/</td> <td>hockey, trolley</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td rowspan="5">i</td> <td>elsewhere</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Close_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close front unrounded vowel">i</a>/</td> <td>ici, proscrire</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td> </td> <td>Ø business </td></tr> <tr> <td>before l(l)</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Close_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close front unrounded vowel">i</a>/ Ø</td> <td>million, tilter, grillage Meilhac, travail, bouteille</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>before vowel</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_palatal_approximant" title="Voiced palatal approximant">j</a>/</td> <td>fief, ionique, rien</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Close_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close front unrounded vowel">i</a>.<a href="/wiki/Voiced_palatal_approximant" title="Voiced palatal approximant">j</a>/ /<a href="/wiki/Close_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close front unrounded vowel">i</a>/ (in compound words or before final e)</td> <td>cabriolet antioxydant, régie</td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>after e</td> <td>∅</td> <td>reine</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>after o</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open front unrounded vowel">a</a>, <a href="/wiki/Open_back_unrounded_vowel" title="Open back unrounded vowel">ɑ</a>/</td> <td>mademoiselle, trois</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">î</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Close_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close front unrounded vowel">i</a>/</td> <td>gîte, épître (in new orthography, gitre, epitre)</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">ï (initially or between vowels)</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_palatal_approximant" title="Voiced palatal approximant">j</a>/</td> <td>ïambe (also iambe), aïeul, païen</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Close_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close front unrounded vowel">i</a>/ ouïe </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">-ie</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Close_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close front unrounded vowel">i</a>/</td> <td>régie, vie</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td rowspan="2">o</td> <td>phonologically finally, next to vowel or before /<a href="/wiki/Voiced_alveolar_fricative" title="Voiced alveolar fricative">z</a>/</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Close-mid_back_rounded_vowel" title="Close-mid back rounded vowel">o</a>/</td> <td>pro, mot, chose, déposes</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open-mid_back_rounded_vowel" title="Open-mid back rounded vowel">ɔ</a>/ ∅ /<a href="/wiki/Voiced_labial%E2%80%93velar_approximant" title="Voiced labial–velar approximant">w</a>/</td> <td>sosie tournir (see <a href="#anchorou">ou</a>), paonneau moi, oiseaux, moyen (see <a href="#anchoroi">oi</a> and <a href="#anchoroy">oy</a>)</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Close-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close-mid front unrounded vowel">e</a>/ roine</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open front unrounded vowel">a</a>/ out, knock-out </td></tr> <tr> <td>elsewhere</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open-mid_back_rounded_vowel" title="Open-mid back rounded vowel">ɔ</a>/</td> <td>carotte, offre</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Close-mid_back_rounded_vowel" title="Close-mid back rounded vowel">o</a>/</td> <td>cyclone, fosse, tome</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Mid_central_vowel" title="Mid central vowel">ə</a>/ monsieur </td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Close_back_rounded_vowel" title="Close back rounded vowel">u</a>/ Wolfenstein </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">ô</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Close-mid_back_rounded_vowel" title="Close-mid back rounded vowel">o</a>/</td> <td>tôt, cône</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open-mid_back_rounded_vowel" title="Open-mid back rounded vowel">ɔ</a>/ hôpital (also /<a href="/wiki/Close-mid_back_rounded_vowel" title="Close-mid back rounded vowel">o</a>/) </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">œ</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open-mid_front_rounded_vowel" title="Open-mid front rounded vowel">œ</a>/</td> <td>œil</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Close-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close-mid front unrounded vowel">e</a>/ /<a href="/wiki/Open-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open-mid front unrounded vowel">ɛ</a>/</td> <td>œsophage, fœtus œstrogène</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Close-mid_front_rounded_vowel" title="Close-mid front rounded vowel">ø</a>/ lœss </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">oe</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open-mid_back_rounded_vowel" title="Open-mid back rounded vowel">ɔ</a><a href="/wiki/Syllable" title="Syllable">.</a><a href="/wiki/Close-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close-mid front unrounded vowel">e</a>/</td> <td>coefficient</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_labial%E2%80%93velar_approximant" title="Voiced labial–velar approximant">w</a><a href="/wiki/Open_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open front unrounded vowel">a</a>, <a href="/wiki/Voiced_labial%E2%80%93velar_approximant" title="Voiced labial–velar approximant">w</a><a href="/wiki/Open-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open-mid front unrounded vowel">ɛ</a>/ moelle, moellon, moelleux (obsolete spellings: moëlle, moëllon, moëlleux) /<a href="/wiki/Close-mid_front_rounded_vowel" title="Close-mid front rounded vowel">ø</a>/ foehn </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">oê</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_labial%E2%80%93velar_approximant" title="Voiced labial–velar approximant">w</a><a href="/wiki/Open_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open front unrounded vowel">a</a>, <a href="/wiki/Voiced_labial%E2%80%93velar_approximant" title="Voiced labial–velar approximant">w</a><a href="/wiki/Open-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open-mid front unrounded vowel">ɛ</a>/</td> <td>poêle</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">oë</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open-mid_back_rounded_vowel" title="Open-mid back rounded vowel">ɔ</a><a href="/wiki/Syllable" title="Syllable">.</a><a href="/wiki/Open-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open-mid front unrounded vowel">ɛ</a>/</td> <td>Noël</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open-mid_back_rounded_vowel" title="Open-mid back rounded vowel">ɔ</a><a href="/wiki/Syllable" title="Syllable">.</a><a href="/wiki/Close-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close-mid front unrounded vowel">e</a>/ canoë /<a href="/wiki/Voiced_labial%E2%80%93velar_approximant" title="Voiced labial–velar approximant">w</a><a href="/wiki/Open-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open-mid front unrounded vowel">ɛ</a>/ foëne, Plancoët /<a href="/wiki/Voiced_labial%E2%80%93velar_approximant" title="Voiced labial–velar approximant">w</a><a href="/wiki/Open_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open front unrounded vowel">a</a>/ Voëvre </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td rowspan="2">œu</td> <td>phonologically finally</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Close-mid_front_rounded_vowel" title="Close-mid front rounded vowel">ø</a>/</td> <td>nœud, œufs, bœufs, vœu</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>elsewhere</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open-mid_front_rounded_vowel" title="Open-mid front rounded vowel">œ</a>/</td> <td>sœur, cœur, œuf, bœuf</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">oi, oie</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_labial%E2%80%93velar_approximant" title="Voiced labial–velar approximant">w</a><a href="/wiki/Open_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open front unrounded vowel">a</a>/</td> <td>roi, oiseau, foie, quoi (also /<a href="/wiki/Voiced_labial%E2%80%93velar_approximant" title="Voiced labial–velar approximant">w</a><a href="/wiki/Open_back_unrounded_vowel" title="Open back unrounded vowel">ɑ</a>/ for these latter words)</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_labial%E2%80%93velar_approximant" title="Voiced labial–velar approximant">w</a><a href="/wiki/Open_back_unrounded_vowel" title="Open back unrounded vowel">ɑ</a>/</td> <td>bois, noix, poids, trois</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open-mid_back_rounded_vowel" title="Open-mid back rounded vowel">ɔ</a>/ oignon (in new orthography, ognon) /<a href="/wiki/Open-mid_back_rounded_vowel" title="Open-mid back rounded vowel">ɔ</a><a href="/wiki/Voiced_palatal_approximant" title="Voiced palatal approximant">j</a>/ séquoia /<a href="/wiki/Close-mid_back_rounded_vowel" title="Close-mid back rounded vowel">o</a><a href="/wiki/Syllable" title="Syllable">.</a><a href="/wiki/Close_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close front unrounded vowel">i</a>/ autoimmuniser </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">oî</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_labial%E2%80%93velar_approximant" title="Voiced labial–velar approximant">w</a><a href="/wiki/Open_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open front unrounded vowel">a</a>, <a href="/wiki/Voiced_labial%E2%80%93velar_approximant" title="Voiced labial–velar approximant">w</a><a href="/wiki/Open_back_unrounded_vowel" title="Open back unrounded vowel">ɑ</a>/</td> <td>croîs, Benoît</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">oï</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open-mid_back_rounded_vowel" title="Open-mid back rounded vowel">ɔ</a><a href="/wiki/Syllable" title="Syllable">.</a><a href="/wiki/Close_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close front unrounded vowel">i</a>/</td> <td>coït, astéroïde</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open-mid_back_rounded_vowel" title="Open-mid back rounded vowel">ɔ</a><a href="/wiki/Voiced_palatal_approximant" title="Voiced palatal approximant">j</a>/</td> <td>troïka</td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">oo</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open-mid_back_rounded_vowel" title="Open-mid back rounded vowel">ɔ</a><a href="/wiki/Syllable" title="Syllable">.</a><a href="/wiki/Open-mid_back_rounded_vowel" title="Open-mid back rounded vowel">ɔ</a>/</td> <td>coopération, oocyte, zoologie</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td> </td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Close_back_rounded_vowel" title="Close back rounded vowel">u</a>/ bazooka, cool, football /<a href="/wiki/Open-mid_back_rounded_vowel" title="Open-mid back rounded vowel">ɔ</a>/ alcool, Boskoop, rooibos /<a href="/wiki/Close-mid_back_rounded_vowel" title="Close-mid back rounded vowel">o</a>/ spéculoos, mooré, zoo /<a href="/wiki/Voiced_labial%E2%80%93velar_approximant" title="Voiced labial–velar approximant">w</a>/ shampooing </td></tr> <tr> <td rowspan="2">ou, où</td> <td>elsewhere</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Close_back_rounded_vowel" title="Close back rounded vowel">u</a>/</td> <td>ouvrir, sous, où</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Close-mid_back_rounded_vowel" title="Close-mid back rounded vowel">o</a><a href="/wiki/Syllable" title="Syllable">.</a><a href="/wiki/Close_front_rounded_vowel" title="Close front rounded vowel">y</a>/ pseudouridimycine </td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open front unrounded vowel">a</a>.<a href="/wiki/Close_back_rounded_vowel" title="Close back rounded vowel">u</a>/ out, knock-out </td></tr> <tr> <td>before vowel or h+vowel</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_labial%E2%80%93velar_approximant" title="Voiced labial–velar approximant">w</a>/</td> <td>ouest, couiner, oui, souhait (also /<a href="/wiki/Close_back_rounded_vowel" title="Close back rounded vowel">u</a>/)</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">oû (in new orthography ⟨ou⟩)</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Close_back_rounded_vowel" title="Close back rounded vowel">u</a>/</td> <td>coût, goût (in new orthography, cout, gout)</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">-oue</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Close_back_rounded_vowel" title="Close back rounded vowel">u</a>/</td> <td>roue</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">oy</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_labial%E2%80%93velar_approximant" title="Voiced labial–velar approximant">w</a><a href="/wiki/Open_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open front unrounded vowel">a</a><a href="/wiki/Voiced_palatal_approximant" title="Voiced palatal approximant">j</a>/</td> <td>moyen, royaume</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_labial%E2%80%93velar_approximant" title="Voiced labial–velar approximant">w</a><a href="/wiki/Open_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open front unrounded vowel">a</a>, <a href="/wiki/Voiced_labial%E2%80%93velar_approximant" title="Voiced labial–velar approximant">w</a><a href="/wiki/Open_back_unrounded_vowel" title="Open back unrounded vowel">ɑ</a>/</td> <td>Fourcroy</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open-mid_back_rounded_vowel" title="Open-mid back rounded vowel">ɔ</a><a href="/wiki/Voiced_palatal_approximant" title="Voiced palatal approximant">j</a>/ oyez (and any conjugated form of ouïr spelt with oy-), goyave, cow-boy (in new orthography cowboy), ayoye /<a href="/wiki/Open-mid_back_rounded_vowel" title="Open-mid back rounded vowel">ɔ</a>.<a href="/wiki/Close_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close front unrounded vowel">i</a>/ Moyse </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td rowspan="3">u</td> <td>elsewhere</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Close_front_rounded_vowel" title="Close front rounded vowel">y</a>/</td> <td>tu, juge</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open-mid_front_rounded_vowel" title="Open-mid front rounded vowel">œ</a>/</td> <td>club, puzzle</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Close_back_rounded_vowel" title="Close back rounded vowel">u</a>/ tofu, pudding /<a href="/wiki/Open-mid_back_rounded_vowel" title="Open-mid back rounded vowel">ɔ</a>/ rhumerie (see also <a href="#anchorum">um</a>) </td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Close_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close front unrounded vowel">i</a>/ business /<a href="/wiki/Open_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open front unrounded vowel">a</a>/ buggy /<a href="/wiki/Voiced_palatal_approximant" title="Voiced palatal approximant">j</a><a href="/wiki/Close_back_rounded_vowel" title="Close back rounded vowel">u</a>/ tuner </td></tr> <tr> <td>before vowel</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_labial%E2%80%93palatal_approximant" title="Voiced labial–palatal approximant">ɥ</a>/ Ø</td> <td>huit, tuer qui, guarde, equilibre</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Close_front_rounded_vowel" title="Close front rounded vowel">y</a>/</td> <td>pollueur</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_labial%E2%80%93velar_approximant" title="Voiced labial–velar approximant">w</a>/ cacahuète (also /<a href="/wiki/Voiced_labial%E2%80%93palatal_approximant" title="Voiced labial–palatal approximant">ɥ</a>/) </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>after o</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Close_back_rounded_vowel" title="Close back rounded vowel">u</a>/</td> <td>tournir</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_labial%E2%80%93velar_approximant" title="Voiced labial–velar approximant">w</a>/ </td> <td>gouache</td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">û (in new orthography ⟨u⟩)</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Close_front_rounded_vowel" title="Close front rounded vowel">y</a>/</td> <td>sûr, flûte (in new orthography, flute)</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td rowspan="3">ue, uë</td> <td>elsewhere</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_labial%E2%80%93palatal_approximant" title="Voiced labial–palatal approximant">ɥ</a><a href="/wiki/Open-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open-mid front unrounded vowel">ɛ</a>/</td> <td>actuel, ruelle</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Close-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close-mid front unrounded vowel">e</a>/ /<a href="/wiki/Open-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open-mid front unrounded vowel">ɛ</a>/ /<a href="/wiki/Voiced_labial%E2%80%93palatal_approximant" title="Voiced labial–palatal approximant">ɥ</a><a href="/wiki/Close-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close-mid front unrounded vowel">e</a>/ /<a href="/wiki/Close_front_rounded_vowel" title="Close front rounded vowel">y</a>.<a href="/wiki/Close-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close-mid front unrounded vowel">e</a>/ /<a href="/wiki/Mid_central_vowel" title="Mid central vowel">ə</a>/ /<a href="/wiki/Open-mid_front_rounded_vowel" title="Open-mid front rounded vowel">œ</a>/ (see <a href="#anchorueil">below</a>)</td> <td>gué guerre tuer arguer (in new orthography, argüer) que orgueil, cueillir</td> <td> </td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_palatal_approximant" title="Voiced palatal approximant">j</a><a href="/wiki/Close_back_rounded_vowel" title="Close back rounded vowel">u</a>/ fuel (also fioul) </td></tr> <tr> <td>finally</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Close_front_rounded_vowel" title="Close front rounded vowel">y</a>/</td> <td>rue</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>finally, after q or g </td> <td>Ø </td> <td>clique </td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Close_front_rounded_vowel" title="Close front rounded vowel">y</a>/ </td> <td>aiguë (in new orthography, aigüe) </td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">ui, uï</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_labial%E2%80%93palatal_approximant" title="Voiced labial–palatal approximant">ɥ</a><a href="/wiki/Close_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close front unrounded vowel">i</a>/</td> <td>linguistique, équilateral ambiguïté (in new orthography, ambigüité)</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Close_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close front unrounded vowel">i</a>/</td> <td>équilibre</td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">uy</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_labial%E2%80%93palatal_approximant" title="Voiced labial–palatal approximant">ɥ</a><a href="/wiki/Close_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close front unrounded vowel">i</a><a href="/wiki/Voiced_palatal_approximant" title="Voiced palatal approximant">j</a>/</td> <td>bruyant, ennuyé, fuyons, Guyenne</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Close_front_rounded_vowel" title="Close front rounded vowel">y</a>.<a href="/wiki/Voiced_palatal_approximant" title="Voiced palatal approximant">j</a>/</td> <td>gruyère, thuya</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_labial%E2%80%93palatal_approximant" title="Voiced labial–palatal approximant">ɥ</a><a href="/wiki/Close_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close front unrounded vowel">i</a>/ puy </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td rowspan="5">y</td> <td>elsewhere</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Close_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close front unrounded vowel">i</a>/</td> <td>cyclone, style</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>elsewhere before vowel</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_palatal_approximant" title="Voiced palatal approximant">j</a>/</td> <td>yeux, yole</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Close_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close front unrounded vowel">i</a>/ /<a href="/wiki/Close_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close front unrounded vowel">i</a>.<a href="/wiki/Voiced_palatal_approximant" title="Voiced palatal approximant">j</a>/</td> <td>polyester, Libye Guyot, myocardiovasculaire</td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>after o</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open front unrounded vowel">a</a><a href="/wiki/Voiced_palatal_approximant" title="Voiced palatal approximant">j</a>/</td> <td>mademoiselle, trois</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open front unrounded vowel">a</a>, <a href="/wiki/Open_back_unrounded_vowel" title="Open back unrounded vowel">ɑ</a>/</td> <td>Fourcroy</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_palatal_approximant" title="Voiced palatal approximant">j</a>/ oyez /<a href="/wiki/Close_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close front unrounded vowel">i</a>/ Moyse </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>after u</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Close_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close front unrounded vowel">i</a><a href="/wiki/Voiced_palatal_approximant" title="Voiced palatal approximant">j</a>/</td> <td>bruyant, ennuyé, fuyons, Guyenne</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_palatal_approximant" title="Voiced palatal approximant">j</a>/</td> <td>gruyère, thuya</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Close_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close front unrounded vowel">i</a>/ puy </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>after e</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_palatal_approximant" title="Voiced palatal approximant">j</a>/</td> <td>gouleyant</td> <td>Ø (finally)</td> <td>trolley</td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>ÿ</td> <td>(used only in proper nouns)</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Close_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close front unrounded vowel">i</a>/</td> <td>L'Haÿ-les-Roses, Freÿr</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> </tbody></table> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Vowels_and_consonants">Vowels and consonants</h3> <a role="button" href="/w/index.php?title=French_orthography&action=edit&section=10" title="Edit section: Vowels and consonants" class="cdx-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--icon-only cdx-button--weight-quiet "> edit </a> </div> <table class="wikitable sortable"> <caption>Combinations of vowel and consonant letters </caption> <tbody><tr> <th colspan="2">Spelling</th> <th>Major value (IPA)</th> <th>Examples of major value</th> <th>Minor values (IPA)</th> <th>Examples of minor value</th> <th>Exceptions </th> <th>Foreign words </th></tr> <tr> <td rowspan="2">am </td> <td>before consonant</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Nasal_vowel" title="Nasal vowel">ɑ̃</a>/</td> <td>ambiance, lampe</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open front unrounded vowel">a</a>/ damné </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>finally</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open front unrounded vowel">a</a><a href="/wiki/Voiced_bilabial_nasal" title="Voiced bilabial nasal">m</a>/</td> <td>Vietnam, tam-tam, macadam</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Nasal_vowel" title="Nasal vowel">ɑ̃</a>/ Adam </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>an, aan </td> <td>before consonant or finally</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Nasal_vowel" title="Nasal vowel">ɑ̃</a>/</td> <td>France, an, bilan, plan, afrikaans</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td> </td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open front unrounded vowel">a</a><a href="/wiki/Voiced_alveolar_nasal" class="mw-redirect" title="Voiced alveolar nasal">n</a>/ brahman, chaman, dan, gentleman, tennisman, naan </td></tr> <tr> <td>aen, aën </td> <td>before consonant or finally</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Nasal_vowel" title="Nasal vowel">ɑ̃</a>/</td> <td>Caen, Saint-Saëns</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>aim, ain </td> <td>before consonant or finally</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Nasal_vowel" title="Nasal vowel">ɛ̃</a>/</td> <td>faim, saint, bains</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>aon </td> <td>before consonant or finally</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Nasal_vowel" title="Nasal vowel">ɑ̃</a>/</td> <td>paon, faon</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open front unrounded vowel">a</a><a href="/wiki/Syllable" title="Syllable">.</a><a href="/wiki/Nasal_vowel" title="Nasal vowel">ɔ̃</a>/</td> <td>pharaon</td> <td></td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">aw</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Close-mid_back_rounded_vowel" title="Close-mid back rounded vowel">o</a>/</td> <td>crawl, yawl</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open_back_unrounded_vowel" title="Open back unrounded vowel">ɑ</a><a href="/wiki/Voiceless_alveolar_fricative" title="Voiceless alveolar fricative">s</a>/ in the 18th century and still traditional French approximation of Laws, the colloquial Scottish form of the economist <a href="/wiki/John_Law_(economist)" title="John Law (economist)">John Law</a>'s name.<a href="#cite_note-9">[9]</a><a href="#cite_note-10">[10]</a></td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">cqu</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_velar_plosive" title="Voiceless velar plosive">k</a>/</td> <td>acquit, acquéreur</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>-cte </td> <td>finally as feminine form of adjectives ending in silent ⟨ct⟩ (see <a href="#anchorct">above</a>)</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_alveolar_plosive" class="mw-redirect" title="Voiceless alveolar plosive">t</a>/</td> <td>succincte</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td rowspan="2">em, en </td> <td>before consonant or finally elsewhere</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Nasal_vowel" title="Nasal vowel">ɑ̃</a>/</td> <td>embaucher, vent</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Nasal_vowel" title="Nasal vowel">ɛ̃</a>/</td> <td>examen, ben, pensum, pentagone</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open-mid front unrounded vowel">ɛ</a><a href="/wiki/Voiced_alveolar_nasal" class="mw-redirect" title="Voiced alveolar nasal">n</a>/ week-end (in new orthography, weekend), lichen /<a href="/wiki/Open-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open-mid front unrounded vowel">ɛ</a><a href="/wiki/Voiced_bilabial_nasal" title="Voiced bilabial nasal">m</a>/ indemne, totem </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>before consonant or finally after ⟨é, i, y⟩</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Nasal_vowel" title="Nasal vowel">ɛ̃</a>/</td> <td>européen, bien, doyen</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Nasal_vowel" title="Nasal vowel">ɑ̃</a>/ (before t or soft c)</td> <td>patient, quotient, science, audience</td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>eim, ein </td> <td>before consonant or finally</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Nasal_vowel" title="Nasal vowel">ɛ̃</a>/</td> <td>plein, sein, Reims</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>-ent </td> <td>3rd person plural verb ending</td> <td>Ø</td> <td>finissaient</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Mid_central_vowel" title="Mid central vowel">ə</a>/</td> <td>parlent</td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">-er</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Close-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close-mid front unrounded vowel">e</a>/</td> <td>aller, transporter, premier</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open-mid front unrounded vowel">ɛ</a><a href="/wiki/Voiced_uvular_fricative" title="Voiced uvular fricative">ʁ</a>/</td> <td>hiver, super, éther, fier, mer, enfer, Niger</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open-mid_front_rounded_vowel" title="Open-mid front rounded vowel">œ</a><a href="/wiki/Voiced_uvular_fricative" title="Voiced uvular fricative">ʁ</a>/ leader (also <a href="/wiki/Open-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open-mid front unrounded vowel">ɛ</a><a href="/wiki/Voiced_uvular_fricative" title="Voiced uvular fricative">ʁ</a>), speaker </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">-es</td> <td>Ø</td> <td>Nantes, faites</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Mid_central_vowel" title="Mid central vowel">ə</a>/</td> <td>sacres, parles</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Close-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close-mid front unrounded vowel">e</a>/ les, des, ces /<a href="/wiki/Open-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open-mid front unrounded vowel">ɛ</a>/ es </td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open-mid front unrounded vowel">ɛ</a><a href="/wiki/Voiceless_alveolar_fricative" title="Voiceless alveolar fricative">s</a>/ tames /<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_alveolar_fricative" title="Voiceless alveolar fricative">s</a>/ cokes </td></tr> <tr> <td>eun </td> <td>before consonant or finally</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Nasal_vowel" title="Nasal vowel">œ̃</a>/</td> <td>jeun</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">ew</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_palatal_approximant" title="Voiced palatal approximant">j</a><a href="/wiki/Close_back_rounded_vowel" title="Close back rounded vowel">u</a>/</td> <td>newton, steward (also /<a href="/wiki/Close_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close front unrounded vowel">i</a><a href="/wiki/Voiced_labial%E2%80%93velar_approximant" title="Voiced labial–velar approximant">w</a>/)</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_labial%E2%80%93velar_approximant" title="Voiced labial–velar approximant">w</a>/ chewing-gum </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>ge </td> <td>before ⟨a, o, u⟩</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_postalveolar_fricative" title="Voiced postalveolar fricative">ʒ</a>/</td> <td>geai, mangea</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>gu </td> <td>before ⟨e, i, y⟩</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_velar_plosive" title="Voiced velar plosive">ɡ</a>/</td> <td>guerre, dingue</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_velar_plosive" title="Voiced velar plosive">ɡ</a><a href="/wiki/Close_front_rounded_vowel" title="Close front rounded vowel">y</a>, <a href="/wiki/Voiced_velar_plosive" title="Voiced velar plosive">ɡ</a><a href="/wiki/Voiced_labial%E2%80%93palatal_approximant" title="Voiced labial–palatal approximant">ɥ</a>/</td> <td>arguër (in new orthography, argüer), aiguille, linguistique, ambiguïté (in new orthography, ambigüité)</td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td rowspan="2">-il </td> <td>after some vowels<a href="#endnote_1">1</a></td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_palatal_approximant" title="Voiced palatal approximant">j</a>/</td> <td>ail, conseil</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>not after vowel</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Close_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close front unrounded vowel">i</a><a href="/wiki/Voiced_alveolar_lateral_approximant" class="mw-redirect" title="Voiced alveolar lateral approximant">l</a>/</td> <td>il, fil</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Close_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close front unrounded vowel">i</a>/</td> <td>outil, fils, fusil</td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td rowspan="2">-ilh- </td> <td>after ⟨u⟩<a href="#cite_note-dictionnaire-academie.fr-11">[11]</a></td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Close_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close front unrounded vowel">i</a><a href="/wiki/Voiced_palatal_approximant" title="Voiced palatal approximant">j</a>/</td> <td>Guilhem</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>after other vowels<a href="#cite_note-dictionnaire-academie.fr-11">[11]</a></td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_palatal_approximant" title="Voiced palatal approximant">j</a>/</td> <td>Meilhac, Devieilhe</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_alveolar_lateral_approximant" class="mw-redirect" title="Voiced alveolar lateral approximant">l</a>/ <a href="/wiki/Sabine_Devieilhe" title="Sabine Devieilhe">Devieilhe</a> (some families don't use the traditional pronunciation /j/ of ilh) </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td rowspan="2">-ill- </td> <td>after some vowels<a href="#endnote_1">1</a></td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_palatal_approximant" title="Voiced palatal approximant">j</a>/</td> <td>paille, nouille</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>not after vowel</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Close_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close front unrounded vowel">i</a><a href="/wiki/Voiced_alveolar_lateral_approximant" class="mw-redirect" title="Voiced alveolar lateral approximant">l</a>/</td> <td>mille, million, billion, ville, villa, village, tranquille<a href="#cite_note-12">[12]</a></td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Close_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close front unrounded vowel">i</a><a href="/wiki/Voiced_palatal_approximant" title="Voiced palatal approximant">j</a>/</td> <td>grillage, bille</td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>im, in, în </td> <td>before consonant or finally</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Nasal_vowel" title="Nasal vowel">ɛ̃</a>/</td> <td>importer, vin, vînt</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Close_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close front unrounded vowel">i</a><a href="/wiki/Voiced_alveolar_nasal" class="mw-redirect" title="Voiced alveolar nasal">n</a>/ sprint </td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Nasal_vowel" title="Nasal vowel">ĩ</a>/ sinh, asinh </td></tr> <tr> <td>oin, oën </td> <td>before consonant or finally</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiced_labial%E2%80%93velar_approximant" title="Voiced labial–velar approximant">w</a><a href="/wiki/Nasal_vowel" title="Nasal vowel">ɛ̃</a>/</td> <td>besoin, point, Samoëns</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>om, on </td> <td>before consonant or finally</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Nasal_vowel" title="Nasal vowel">ɔ̃</a>/</td> <td>ombre, bon</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open-mid_back_rounded_vowel" title="Open-mid back rounded vowel">ɔ</a><a href="/wiki/Voiced_alveolar_nasal" class="mw-redirect" title="Voiced alveolar nasal">n</a>/ canyon /<a href="/wiki/Mid_central_vowel" title="Mid central vowel">ə</a>/ monsieur /<a href="/wiki/Open-mid_back_rounded_vowel" title="Open-mid back rounded vowel">ɔ</a>/ automne </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">ow</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Close-mid_back_rounded_vowel" title="Close-mid back rounded vowel">o</a>/</td> <td>cow-boy (also [aw]. In new orthography, cowboy), show</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Close_back_rounded_vowel" title="Close back rounded vowel">u</a>/ clown /<a href="/wiki/Close-mid_back_rounded_vowel" title="Close-mid back rounded vowel">o</a><a href="/wiki/Syllable" title="Syllable">.</a><a href="/wiki/Voiced_labial%E2%80%93velar_approximant" title="Voiced labial–velar approximant">w</a>/ Koweït </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">qu</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_velar_plosive" title="Voiceless velar plosive">k</a>/</td> <td>quand, pourquoi, loquace</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_velar_plosive" title="Voiceless velar plosive">k</a><a href="/wiki/Voiced_labial%E2%80%93palatal_approximant" title="Voiced labial–palatal approximant">ɥ</a>/ /<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_velar_plosive" title="Voiceless velar plosive">k</a><a href="/wiki/Voiced_labial%E2%80%93velar_approximant" title="Voiced labial–velar approximant">w</a>/</td> <td>équilatéral aquarium, loquace, quatuor</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_velar_plosive" title="Voiceless velar plosive">k</a><a href="/wiki/Close_front_rounded_vowel" title="Close front rounded vowel">y</a>/ piqûre (in new orthography, piqure), qu </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td rowspan="2">ti + vowel </td> <td>initially or after /s/</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_alveolar_plosive" class="mw-redirect" title="Voiceless alveolar plosive">t</a><a href="/wiki/Voiced_palatal_approximant" title="Voiced palatal approximant">j</a>/, /<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_alveolar_plosive" class="mw-redirect" title="Voiceless alveolar plosive">t</a><a href="/wiki/Close_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close front unrounded vowel">i</a>/, /<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_alveolar_plosive" class="mw-redirect" title="Voiceless alveolar plosive">t</a><a href="/wiki/Close_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close front unrounded vowel">i</a>.<a href="/wiki/Voiced_palatal_approximant" title="Voiced palatal approximant">j</a>/</td> <td>bastion, gestionnaire, tiens, aquae-sextien</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>elsewhere</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_alveolar_fricative" title="Voiceless alveolar fricative">s</a><a href="/wiki/Voiced_palatal_approximant" title="Voiced palatal approximant">j</a>/, /<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_alveolar_fricative" title="Voiceless alveolar fricative">s</a><a href="/wiki/Close_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close front unrounded vowel">i</a>/, /<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_alveolar_fricative" title="Voiceless alveolar fricative">s</a><a href="/wiki/Close_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close front unrounded vowel">i</a>.<a href="/wiki/Voiced_palatal_approximant" title="Voiced palatal approximant">j</a>/</td> <td>fonctionnaire, initiation, Croatie, haïtien</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_alveolar_plosive" class="mw-redirect" title="Voiceless alveolar plosive">t</a><a href="/wiki/Voiced_palatal_approximant" title="Voiced palatal approximant">j</a>/, /<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_alveolar_plosive" class="mw-redirect" title="Voiceless alveolar plosive">t</a><a href="/wiki/Close_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close front unrounded vowel">i</a>/, /<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_alveolar_plosive" class="mw-redirect" title="Voiceless alveolar plosive">t</a><a href="/wiki/Close_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close front unrounded vowel">i</a>.<a href="/wiki/Voiced_palatal_approximant" title="Voiced palatal approximant">j</a>/</td> <td>the suffix -tié, all conjugated forms of verbs with a radical ending in -t (augmentions, partiez, etc.) or derived from tenir, and all nouns and past participles derived from such verbs and ending in -ie (sortie, divertie, etc.)</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_postalveolar_fricative" title="Voiceless postalveolar fricative">ʃ</a><a href="/wiki/Voiced_palatal_approximant" title="Voiced palatal approximant">j</a>/, /<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_postalveolar_fricative" title="Voiceless postalveolar fricative">ʃ</a><a href="/wiki/Close_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close front unrounded vowel">i</a>/, /<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_postalveolar_fricative" title="Voiceless postalveolar fricative">ʃ</a><a href="/wiki/Close_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close front unrounded vowel">i</a>.<a href="/wiki/Voiced_palatal_approximant" title="Voiced palatal approximant">j</a>/ minutia </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>um, un </td> <td>before consonant or finally</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Nasal_vowel" title="Nasal vowel">œ̃</a>/</td> <td>parfum, brun</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Open-mid_back_rounded_vowel" title="Open-mid back rounded vowel">ɔ</a><a href="/wiki/Voiced_bilabial_nasal" title="Voiced bilabial nasal">m</a>/</td> <td>album, maximum</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Nasal_vowel" title="Nasal vowel">ɔ̃</a>/ nuncupation, punch (in new orthography, ponch), secundo </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>ym, yn </td> <td>before consonant or finally</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Nasal_vowel" title="Nasal vowel">ɛ̃</a>/</td> <td>sympa, syndrome</td> <td>/<a href="/wiki/Close_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close front unrounded vowel">i</a><a href="/wiki/Voiced_bilabial_nasal" title="Voiced bilabial nasal">m</a>/</td> <td>gymnase, hymne</td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr></tbody></table> <dl><dd><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1041539562">.mw-parser-output .citation{word-wrap:break-word}.mw-parser-output .citation:target{background-color:rgba(0,127,255,0.133)}</style><a href="#ref_1">^1</a> These combinations are pronounced /j/ after ⟨a, e, eu, œ, ou, ue⟩, all but the last of which are pronounced normally and are not influenced by the ⟨i⟩. For example, in rail, ⟨a⟩ is pronounced /a/; in mouiller, ⟨ou⟩ is pronounced /u/. ⟨ue⟩, however, which only occurs in such combinations after ⟨c⟩ and ⟨g⟩, is pronounced /œ/ as opposed to /ɥɛ/, e.g. orgueil /ɔʁɡœj/, cueillir /kœjiʁ/, accueil /akœj/, etc. These combinations are never pronounced /j/ after ⟨o, u⟩, except -⟨uill⟩- (/ɥij/), e.g. aiguille /egɥij/, juillet /ʒɥijɛ/, where the vowel + ⟨i⟩ + ⟨ll⟩ sequence is pronounced normally, although as usual, the pronunciation of ⟨u⟩ after ⟨g⟩ and ⟨q⟩ is somewhat unpredictable: poil, huile, équilibre [ekilibʁə] but équilatéral [ekɥilateʁal], etc.</dd></dl> </section><div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 section-heading" onclick="mfTempOpenSection(6)"><h2 id="Words_from_Greek">Words from Greek</h2> <a role="button" href="/w/index.php?title=French_orthography&action=edit&section=11" title="Edit section: Words from Greek" class="cdx-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--icon-only cdx-button--weight-quiet "> edit </a> </div><section class="mf-section-6 collapsible-block" id="mf-section-6"> The spelling of French words of Greek origin is complicated by a number of digraphs which originated in the <a href="/wiki/Latin" title="Latin">Latin</a> transcriptions. The digraphs ⟨ph, th, ch⟩ normally represent /f, t, k/, respectively, in Greek loanwords; and the ligatures ⟨æ⟩ and ⟨œ⟩ in Greek loanwords represent the same vowel as ⟨é⟩ (/<a href="/wiki/Close-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close-mid front unrounded vowel">e</a>/). Further, many words in the <a href="/wiki/International_scientific_vocabulary" title="International scientific vocabulary">international scientific vocabulary</a> were constructed in French from Greek roots and have kept their digraphs (e.g. stratosphère, photographie). </section><div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 section-heading" onclick="mfTempOpenSection(7)"><h2 id="History">History</h2> <a role="button" href="/w/index.php?title=French_orthography&action=edit&section=12" title="Edit section: History" class="cdx-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--icon-only cdx-button--weight-quiet "> edit </a> </div><section class="mf-section-7 collapsible-block" id="mf-section-7"> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1251242444"><table class="box-Expand_section plainlinks metadata ambox mbox-small-left ambox-content" role="presentation"><tbody><tr><td class="mbox-text"><div class="mbox-text-span">This section needs expansion. You can help by <a class="external text" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=French_orthography&action=edit&section=">adding to it</a>. (June 2008)</div></td></tr></tbody></table> The <a href="/wiki/Oaths_of_Strasbourg" title="Oaths of Strasbourg">Oaths of Strasbourg</a> from 842 is the earliest text written in the early form of French called Romance or Gallo-Romance. <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Roman">Roman</h3> <a role="button" href="/w/index.php?title=French_orthography&action=edit&section=13" title="Edit section: Roman" class="cdx-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--icon-only cdx-button--weight-quiet "> edit </a> </div> The Celtic <a href="/wiki/Gaulish_language" class="mw-redirect" title="Gaulish language">Gaulish language</a> of the inhabitants of <a href="/wiki/Gaul" title="Gaul">Gaul</a> disappeared progressively over the course of Roman rule as the Latin language began to replace it. <a href="/wiki/Vulgar_Latin" title="Vulgar Latin">Vulgar Latin</a>, a generally lower register of <a href="/wiki/Classical_Latin" title="Classical Latin">Classical Latin</a> spoken by the Roman soldiers, merchants and even by patricians in quotidian speech, was adopted by the natives and evolved slowly, taking the forms of different spoken Roman vernaculars according to the region of the empire. Eventually the different forms of Vulgar Latin in what is now France evolved into three branches in the <a href="/wiki/Romance_languages#Classification_and_related_languages" title="Romance languages">Gallo-Romance</a> language sub-family, the <a href="/wiki/Langues_d%27o%C3%AFl" title="Langues d'oïl">langues d'oïl</a> north of the <a href="/wiki/Loire" title="Loire">Loire</a>, the <a href="/wiki/Langues_d%27oc" class="mw-redirect" title="Langues d'oc">langues d'oc</a> in the south, and the <a href="/wiki/Franco-Proven%C3%A7al_language" class="mw-redirect" title="Franco-Provençal language">Franco-Provençal languages</a> in part of the east.<a href="#cite_note-fwiki-13">[13]</a> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Old_French">Old French</h3> <a role="button" href="/w/index.php?title=French_orthography&action=edit&section=14" title="Edit section: Old French" class="cdx-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--icon-only cdx-button--weight-quiet "> edit </a> </div> In the 9th century, the Romance vernaculars were already quite far from Latin. For example, to understand the <a href="/wiki/Bible" title="Bible">Bible</a>, written in Latin, footnotes were necessary. The languages found in the <a href="/wiki/Manuscript" title="Manuscript">manuscripts</a> dating from the 9th century to the 13th century form what is known as <a href="/wiki/Old_French" title="Old French">Old French</a> (ancien français). With consolidation of royal power, beginning in the 13th century, the Francien vernacular, the langue d'oil variety then in usage in the <a href="/wiki/%C3%8Ele-de-France" title="Île-de-France">Île-de-France</a> (region around Paris), took, little by little, over the other languages and evolved toward Classic French. These languages continued to evolve until Middle French (moyen français) emerged, in the 14th century to the 16th century.<a href="#cite_note-fwiki-13">[13]</a> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Middle_French">Middle French</h3> <a role="button" href="/w/index.php?title=French_orthography&action=edit&section=15" title="Edit section: Middle French" class="cdx-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--icon-only cdx-button--weight-quiet "> edit </a> </div> <figure class="mw-default-size" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:Romant_de_la_Rose,_f._1,_ms._National_Library_of_Wales,_14th_century.png" class="mw-file-description"><noscript><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/81/Romant_de_la_Rose%2C_f._1%2C_ms._National_Library_of_Wales%2C_14th_century.png/220px-Romant_de_la_Rose%2C_f._1%2C_ms._National_Library_of_Wales%2C_14th_century.png" decoding="async" width="220" height="110" class="mw-file-element" data-file-width="1000" data-file-height="500"></noscript><span class="lazy-image-placeholder" style="width: 220px;height: 110px;" data-src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/81/Romant_de_la_Rose%2C_f._1%2C_ms._National_Library_of_Wales%2C_14th_century.png/220px-Romant_de_la_Rose%2C_f._1%2C_ms._National_Library_of_Wales%2C_14th_century.png" data-width="220" data-height="110" data-srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/81/Romant_de_la_Rose%2C_f._1%2C_ms._National_Library_of_Wales%2C_14th_century.png/330px-Romant_de_la_Rose%2C_f._1%2C_ms._National_Library_of_Wales%2C_14th_century.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/81/Romant_de_la_Rose%2C_f._1%2C_ms._National_Library_of_Wales%2C_14th_century.png/440px-Romant_de_la_Rose%2C_f._1%2C_ms._National_Library_of_Wales%2C_14th_century.png 2x" data-class="mw-file-element"> </a><figcaption><a href="/wiki/Romant_de_la_Rose" class="mw-redirect" title="Romant de la Rose">Romant de la Rose</a>, 14th century</figcaption></figure> During the <a href="/wiki/Middle_French" title="Middle French">Middle French</a> period (<abbr title="circa">c.</abbr> 1300–1600), modern spelling practices were largely established. This happened especially during the 16th century, under the influence of printers. The overall trend was towards continuity with Old French spelling, although some changes were made under the influence of changed pronunciation habits; for example, the Old French distinction between the diphthongs ⟨eu⟩ and ⟨ue⟩ was eliminated in favor of consistent ⟨eu⟩,<a href="#cite_note-14">[a]</a> as both diphthongs had come to be pronounced /ø/ or /œ/ (depending on the surrounding sounds). However, many other distinctions that had become equally superfluous were maintained, e.g. between ⟨s⟩ and soft ⟨c⟩ or between ⟨ai⟩ and ⟨ei⟩. It is likely that etymology was the guiding factor here: the distinctions ⟨s/c⟩ and ⟨ai/ei⟩ reflect corresponding distinctions in the spelling of the underlying Latin words, whereas no such distinction exists in the case of ⟨eu/ue⟩. This period also saw the development of some explicitly etymological spellings, e.g. temps ("time"), vingt ("twenty") and poids ("weight") (note that in many cases, the etymologizing was sloppy or occasionally completely incorrect; vingt reflects Latin viginti, with the ⟨g⟩ in the wrong place, and poids actually comes from Latin pensum, with no ⟨d⟩ at all; the spelling poids is due to an incorrect derivation from Latin pondus). The trend towards etymologizing sometimes produced absurd (and generally rejected) spellings such as sçapvoir for normal savoir ("to know"), which attempted to combine Latin sapere ("to be wise", the correct origin of savoir) with scire ("to know"). <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Classical_French">Classical French</h3> <a role="button" href="/w/index.php?title=French_orthography&action=edit&section=16" title="Edit section: Classical French" class="cdx-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--icon-only cdx-button--weight-quiet "> edit </a> </div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1236090951">.mw-parser-output .hatnote{font-style:italic}.mw-parser-output div.hatnote{padding-left:1.6em;margin-bottom:0.5em}.mw-parser-output .hatnote i{font-style:normal}.mw-parser-output .hatnote+link+.hatnote{margin-top:-0.5em}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .hatnote{display:none!important}}</style><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="/wiki/Reforms_of_French_orthography" title="Reforms of French orthography">Reforms of French orthography</a></div> Modern French spelling was codified in the late 17th century by the Académie française, based largely on previously established spelling conventions. Some reforms have occurred since then, but most have been fairly minor. The most significant changes have been: <ul><li>Adoption of ⟨j⟩ and ⟨v⟩ to represent consonants, in place of former ⟨i⟩ and ⟨u⟩.</li> <li>Addition of a circumflex accent to reflect historical <a href="/wiki/Vowel_length" title="Vowel length">vowel length</a>. During the <a href="/wiki/Middle_French" title="Middle French">Middle French</a> period, a distinction developed between long and short vowels, with long vowels largely stemming from a lost /s/ before a consonant, as in même (cf. Spanish mismo), but sometimes from the coalescence of similar vowels, as in âge from earlier aage, eage (early <a href="/wiki/Old_French" title="Old French">Old French</a> *edage < <a href="/wiki/Vulgar_Latin" title="Vulgar Latin">Vulgar Latin</a> *aetaticum, cf. Spanish edad < aetate(m)). Prior to this, such words continued to be spelled historically (e.g. mesme and age). Ironically, by the time this convention was adopted in the 19th century, the former distinction between short and long vowels had largely disappeared in all but the most conservative pronunciations, with vowels automatically pronounced long or short depending on the phonological context (see <a href="/wiki/French_phonology" title="French phonology">French phonology</a>).</li> <li>Use of ⟨ai⟩ in place of ⟨oi⟩ where pronounced /ɛ/ rather than /wa/. The most significant effect of this was to change the spelling of all imperfect verbs (formerly spelled -⟨ois⟩, -⟨oit⟩, -⟨oient⟩ rather than -⟨ais⟩, -⟨ait⟩, -⟨aient⟩), as well as the name of the language, from françois to français.</li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Modern_French">Modern French</h3> <a role="button" href="/w/index.php?title=French_orthography&action=edit&section=17" title="Edit section: Modern French" class="cdx-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--icon-only cdx-button--weight-quiet "> edit </a> </div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="/wiki/Reforms_of_French_orthography#The_rectifications_of_1990" title="Reforms of French orthography">Reforms of French orthography § The rectifications of 1990</a></div> In October 1989, Michel Rocard, then-Prime Minister of France, established the High Council of the French Language (Conseil supérieur de la langue française) in Paris. He designated experts – among them linguists, representatives of the Académie française and lexicographers – to propose standardizing several points, a few of those points being: <ul><li>The uniting hyphen in all compound numerals</li></ul> <dl><dd><dl><dd>e.g. trente-et-un</dd></dl></dd></dl> <ul><li>The plural of compound words, the second element of which always takes the plural s</li></ul> <dl><dd><dl><dd>e.g. un après-midi, des après-midis</dd></dl></dd></dl> <ul><li>The circumflex ⟨ˆ⟩ disappears on ⟨u⟩ and ⟨i⟩ except for when it is needed to differentiate homophones</li></ul> <dl><dd><dl><dd>e.g. coût (cost) → cout, abîme (abyss) → abime but sûr (sure) because of sur (on)</dd></dl></dd></dl> <ul><li>The past participle of laisser followed by an infinitive verb is invariable (now works the same way as the verb faire)</li></ul> <dl><dd><dl><dd>elle s'est laissée mourir → elle s'est laissé mourir</dd></dl></dd></dl> Quickly, the experts set to work. Their conclusions were submitted to Belgian and Québécois linguistic political organizations. They were likewise submitted to the Académie française, which endorsed them unanimously, saying: "Current orthography remains that of usage, and the 'recommendations' of the High Council of the French language only enter into play with words that may be written in a different manner without being considered as incorrect or as faults."[<a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed">citation needed</a>] The changes were published in the <a href="/wiki/Journal_officiel_de_la_R%C3%A9publique_fran%C3%A7aise" title="Journal officiel de la République française">Journal officiel de la République française</a> in December 1990. At the time the proposed changes were considered to be suggestions. In 2016, schoolbooks in France began to use the newer recommended spellings, with instruction to teachers that both old and new spellings be deemed correct.<a href="#cite_note-15">[14]</a> </section><div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 section-heading" onclick="mfTempOpenSection(8)"><h2 id="Punctuation">Punctuation</h2> <a role="button" href="/w/index.php?title=French_orthography&action=edit&section=18" title="Edit section: Punctuation" class="cdx-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--icon-only cdx-button--weight-quiet "> edit </a> </div><section class="mf-section-8 collapsible-block" id="mf-section-8"> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">See also: <a href="/wiki/Punctuation#Other_languages" title="Punctuation">Punctuation § Other languages</a></div> In France and Belgium, the <a href="/wiki/Exclamation_mark" title="Exclamation mark">exclamation mark</a>, <a href="/wiki/Question_mark" title="Question mark">question mark</a>, <a href="/wiki/Semicolon" title="Semicolon">semicolon</a>, <a href="/wiki/Colon_(punctuation)" title="Colon (punctuation)">colon</a>, percentage mark, currency symbols, <a href="/wiki/Hash_(character)" class="mw-redirect" title="Hash (character)">hash</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Guillemet" title="Guillemet">guillemet</a> all require a thin space between the punctuation mark and the material it adjoins. Outside of France and Belgium, this rule is often ignored. Computer software may aid or hinder the application of this rule, depending on the degree of <a href="/wiki/Internationalization_and_localization" title="Internationalization and localization">localisation</a>, as it is marked differently from most other Western punctuation. <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Hyphens">Hyphens</h3> <a role="button" href="/w/index.php?title=French_orthography&action=edit&section=19" title="Edit section: Hyphens" class="cdx-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--icon-only cdx-button--weight-quiet "> edit </a> </div> The hyphen in French has a particular use in geographic names that is not found in English. Traditionally, the "specific" part of placenames, street names, and organization names are hyphenated (usually <a href="/wiki/Namesake" title="Namesake">namesakes</a>).<a href="#cite_note-16">[15]</a><a href="#cite_note-17">[16]</a> For instance, la <a href="/wiki/Place_de_la_Bataille-de-Stalingrad" title="Place de la Bataille-de-Stalingrad">place de la Bataille-de-Stalingrad</a> (Square of the <a href="/wiki/Battle_of_Stalingrad" title="Battle of Stalingrad">Battle of Stalingrad</a> [la bataille de Stalingrad]); and l’<a href="/wiki/Universit%C3%A9_Blaise-Pascal" class="mw-redirect" title="Université Blaise-Pascal">université Blaise-Pascal</a> (named after <a href="/wiki/Blaise_Pascal" title="Blaise Pascal">Blaise Pascal</a>). Likewise, <a href="/wiki/Pas-de-Calais" title="Pas-de-Calais">Pas-de-Calais</a> is a French department; the eponymous <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pas#French" class="extiw" title="wikt:pas">pas</a> (strait) is le <a href="/wiki/Strait_of_Dover" title="Strait of Dover">pas de Calais</a>. This rule is not uniformly observed in official names, e.g., either la <a href="/wiki/C%C3%B4te-d%27Ivoire" class="mw-redirect" title="Côte-d'Ivoire">Côte-d'Ivoire</a> or la Côte d'Ivoire, and usually la <a href="/wiki/C%C3%B4te_d%27Azur" class="mw-redirect" title="Côte d'Azur">Côte d'Azur</a> has no hyphens. The names of <a href="/wiki/List_of_Montreal_Metro_stations" title="List of Montreal Metro stations">Montreal Metro stations</a> are consistently hyphenated when suitable, but those of <a href="/wiki/List_of_Paris_M%C3%A9tro_stations" title="List of Paris Métro stations">Paris Métro stations</a> mostly ignore this rule. (For more examples, see <a href="https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trait_d%27union#Noms_de_voies_et_d%E2%80%99organismes" class="extiw" title="fr:Trait d'union">Trait d'union</a>.) </section><div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 section-heading" onclick="mfTempOpenSection(9)"><h2 id="See_also">See also</h2> <a role="button" href="/w/index.php?title=French_orthography&action=edit&section=20" title="Edit section: See also" class="cdx-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--icon-only cdx-button--weight-quiet "> edit </a> </div><section class="mf-section-9 collapsible-block" id="mf-section-9"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Elision_(French)" title="Elision (French)">Elision (French)</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/French_phonology" title="French phonology">French phonology</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/French_braille" class="mw-redirect" title="French braille">French braille</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/French_manual_alphabet" title="French manual alphabet">French manual alphabet</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Circumflex_in_French" title="Circumflex in French">Circumflex in French</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Heteronym_(linguistics)#French" title="Heteronym (linguistics)">French heteronyms</a>, words spelled the same but pronounced differently</li></ul> </section><div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 section-heading" onclick="mfTempOpenSection(10)"><h2 id="Notes">Notes</h2> <a role="button" href="/w/index.php?title=French_orthography&action=edit&section=21" title="Edit section: Notes" class="cdx-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--icon-only cdx-button--weight-quiet "> edit </a> </div><section class="mf-section-10 collapsible-block" id="mf-section-10"> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1239543626">.mw-parser-output .reflist{margin-bottom:0.5em;list-style-type:decimal}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .reflist{font-size:90%}}.mw-parser-output .reflist .references{font-size:100%;margin-bottom:0;list-style-type:inherit}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-2{column-width:30em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-3{column-width:25em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns{margin-top:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns ol{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns li{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-alpha{list-style-type:upper-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-roman{list-style-type:upper-roman}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-alpha{list-style-type:lower-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-greek{list-style-type:lower-greek}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-roman{list-style-type:lower-roman}</style><div class="reflist reflist-lower-alpha"> <div class="mw-references-wrap"><ol class="references"> <li id="cite_note-14"><a href="#cite_ref-14">^</a> Except in a few words such as accueil, where ⟨ue⟩ was necessary to mark the hard pronunciation of ⟨c⟩ as /k/. </li> </ol></div></div> </section><div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 section-heading" onclick="mfTempOpenSection(11)"><h2 id="References">References</h2> <a role="button" href="/w/index.php?title=French_orthography&action=edit&section=22" title="Edit section: References" class="cdx-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--icon-only cdx-button--weight-quiet "> edit </a> </div><section class="mf-section-11 collapsible-block" id="mf-section-11"> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1239543626"><div class="reflist"> <div class="mw-references-wrap mw-references-columns"><ol class="references"> <li id="cite_note-1"><a href="#cite_ref-1">^</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.academie-francaise.fr/langue/questions.html#accentuation">Académie française, accentuation</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110514131914/http://www.academie-francaise.fr/langue/questions.html">Archived</a> 2011-05-14 at the <a href="/wiki/Wayback_Machine" title="Wayback Machine">Wayback Machine</a> </li> <li id="cite_note-2"><a href="#cite_ref-2">^</a> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1238218222">.mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit;word-wrap:break-word}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"\"""\"""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation:target{background-color:rgba(0,127,255,0.133)}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-free.id-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Lock-green.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited.id-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration.id-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription.id-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg")right 0.1em center/12px no-repeat}body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-free a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background-size:contain;padding:0 1em 0 0}.mw-parser-output .cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:none;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#085;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right{padding-right:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .citation .mw-selflink{font-weight:inherit}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}</style><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20141106063313/http://66.46.185.79/bdl/gabarit_bdl.asp?t1=1&id=1438">"Banque de dépannage linguistique - Accents sur les majuscules"</a>. 66.46.185.79. Archived from <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://66.46.185.79/bdl/gabarit_bdl.asp?t1=1&id=1438">the original</a> on 6 November 2014. Retrieved 10 October 2017.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=66.46.185.79&rft.atitle=Banque+de+d%C3%A9pannage+linguistique+-+Accents+sur+les+majuscules&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2F66.46.185.79%2Fbdl%2Fgabarit_bdl.asp%3Ft1%3D1%26id%3D1438&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AFrench+orthography" class="Z3988"> </li> <li id="cite_note-3"><a href="#cite_ref-3">^</a> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFDidier" class="citation web cs1">Didier, Dominique. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://monsu.desiderio.free.fr/curiosites/ligat-ae.html">"La ligature æ"</a>. Monsu.desiderio.free.fr. Retrieved 10 October 2017.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=Monsu.desiderio.free.fr&rft.atitle=La+ligature+%C3%A6&rft.aulast=Didier&rft.aufirst=Dominique&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fmonsu.desiderio.free.fr%2Fcuriosites%2Fligat-ae.html&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AFrench+orthography" class="Z3988"> </li> <li id="cite_note-4"><a href="#cite_ref-4">^</a> <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fr:Cat%C3%A9gorie:ae_non_ligatur%C3%A9_en_fran%C3%A7ais" class="extiw" title="wikt:fr:Catégorie:ae non ligaturé en français">wikt:fr:Catégorie:ae non ligaturé en français</a> </li> <li id="cite_note-5"><a href="#cite_ref-5">^</a> See <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fr:Cat%C3%A9gorie:oe_non_ligatur%C3%A9_en_fran%C3%A7ais" class="extiw" title="wikt:fr:Catégorie:oe non ligaturé en français">wikt:fr:Catégorie:oe non ligaturé en français</a> </li> <li id="cite_note-6"><a href="#cite_ref-6">^</a> See <a href="/wiki/Ch_(digraph)#French" title="Ch (digraph)">Ch (digraph)#French</a> </li> <li id="cite_note-7"><a href="#cite_ref-7">^</a> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.languageguide.org/french/grammar/pronunciation/index.html">"French Pronuncation: Vowel Sounds I -LanguageGuide"</a>. Languageguide.org. Retrieved 10 October 2017.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=Languageguide.org&rft.atitle=French+Pronuncation%3A+Vowel+Sounds+I+-LanguageGuide&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.languageguide.org%2Ffrench%2Fgrammar%2Fpronunciation%2Findex.html&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AFrench+orthography" class="Z3988"> </li> <li id="cite_note-8"><a href="#cite_ref-8">^</a> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.languageguide.org/french/grammar/pronunciation/vowels2.html">"French Pronuncation: Vowel Sounds II -LanguageGuide"</a>. Languageguide.org. Retrieved 10 October 2017.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=Languageguide.org&rft.atitle=French+Pronuncation%3A+Vowel+Sounds+II+-LanguageGuide&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.languageguide.org%2Ffrench%2Fgrammar%2Fpronunciation%2Fvowels2.html&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AFrench+orthography" class="Z3988"> </li> <li id="cite_note-9"><a href="#cite_ref-9">^</a> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFEspinasse1892" class="citation encyclopaedia cs1"><a href="/wiki/Francis_Espinasse" title="Francis Espinasse">Espinasse, Francis</a> (1892). <a class="external text" href="https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Dictionary_of_National_Biography,_1885-1900/Law,_John_(1671-1729)">"Law, John (1671-1729)" </a>. <a href="/wiki/Dictionary_of_National_Biography" title="Dictionary of National Biography">Dictionary of National Biography</a>. Vol. 32. pp. 230–234.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=bookitem&rft.atitle=Law%2C+John+%281671-1729%29&rft.btitle=Dictionary+of+National+Biography&rft.pages=230-234&rft.date=1892&rft.aulast=Espinasse&rft.aufirst=Francis&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AFrench+orthography" class="Z3988"> </li> <li id="cite_note-10"><a href="#cite_ref-10">^</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=vAFA8x953OMC">Etudes romanes dédiées a Gaston Paris</a>, p. 487 to 506, especially p. 501 </li> <li id="cite_note-dictionnaire-academie.fr-11">^ <a href="#cite_ref-dictionnaire-academie.fr_11-0">a</a> <a href="#cite_ref-dictionnaire-academie.fr_11-1">b</a> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.dictionnaire-academie.fr/article/A9L0001">"Dictionnaire de l'Académie française"</a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=unknown&rft.btitle=Dictionnaire+de+l%27Acad%C3%A9mie+fran%C3%A7aise&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dictionnaire-academie.fr%2Farticle%2FA9L0001&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AFrench+orthography" class="Z3988"> </li> <li id="cite_note-12"><a href="#cite_ref-12">^</a> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161123205230/http://french.about.com/od/pronunciation/a/ll.htm">"Is LL Pronounced Like an L or like a Y in French?"</a>. French.about.com. Archived from <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://french.about.com/od/pronunciation/a/ll.htm">the original</a> on 23 November 2016. Retrieved 10 October 2017.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=French.about.com&rft.atitle=Is+LL+Pronounced+Like+an+L+or+like+a+Y+in+French%3F&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Ffrench.about.com%2Fod%2Fpronunciation%2Fa%2Fll.htm&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AFrench+orthography" class="Z3988"> </li> <li id="cite_note-fwiki-13">^ <a href="#cite_ref-fwiki_13-0">a</a> <a href="#cite_ref-fwiki_13-1">b</a> Translation of <a href="https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Litt%C3%A9rature_fran%C3%A7aise_du_Moyen_%C3%82ge#%C3%89volution_de_la_langue_fran%C3%A7aise_du_ve_au_xve_si%C3%A8cle" class="extiw" title="fr:Littérature française du Moyen Âge">Évolution de la langue française du Ve au XVe siècle</a>. See also <a href="https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langue_romane" class="extiw" title="fr:Langue romane">Langue romane</a> (French) and <a href="/wiki/Romance_languages" title="Romance languages">Romance languages</a> (English). </li> <li id="cite_note-15"><a href="#cite_ref-15">^</a> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation news cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-35496893">"End of the circumflex? Changes in French spelling cause uproar"</a>. BBC News. 2016-02-05. Retrieved 2017-07-30.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=BBC+News&rft.atitle=End+of+the+circumflex%3F+Changes+in+French+spelling+cause+uproar&rft.date=2016-02-05&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fworld-europe-35496893&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AFrench+orthography" class="Z3988"> </li> <li id="cite_note-16"><a href="#cite_ref-16">^</a> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation web cs1 cs1-prop-foreign-lang-source"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/content/download/10387/120534/version/3/file/Charte_typographique_jo_septembre_2016.pdf">"Charte ortho-typographique du Journal officiel [Orthotypography Style Guide for the Journal Officiel]"</a> (PDF). <a href="/wiki/L%C3%A9gifrance" title="Légifrance">Légifrance</a> (in French). 2016. p. 19. <q>On le met dans le nom donné à des voies (rue, place, pont...), une agglomération, un département... Exemples : boulevard <a href="/wiki/Victor_Hugo" title="Victor Hugo">Victor-Hugo</a>, rue du <a href="/wiki/G%C3%A9n%C3%A9ral_de_Gaulle" class="mw-redirect" title="Général de Gaulle">Général-de-Gaulle</a>, ville de <a href="/wiki/Nogent-le-Rotrou" title="Nogent-le-Rotrou">Nogent-le-Rotrou</a>.</q></cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=L%C3%A9gifrance&rft.atitle=Charte+ortho-typographique+du+Journal+officiel+%5BOrthotypography+Style+Guide+for+the+Journal+Officiel%5D&rft.pages=19&rft.date=2016&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.legifrance.gouv.fr%2Fcontent%2Fdownload%2F10387%2F120534%2Fversion%2F3%2Ffile%2FCharte_typographique_jo_septembre_2016.pdf&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AFrench+orthography" class="Z3988"> Summary ranslation: "Hyphenate name in roadways (streets, squares, bridges), towns, <a href="/wiki/D%C3%A9partements" class="mw-redirect" title="Départements">départements</a>". See also "<a href="/wiki/Orthotypography" class="mw-redirect" title="Orthotypography">orthotypography</a>". </li> <li id="cite_note-17"><a href="#cite_ref-17">^</a> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation web cs1 cs1-prop-foreign-lang-source"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://bdl.oqlf.gouv.qc.ca/bdl/gabarit_bdl.asp?id=1298">"Établissements d'enseignement ou organismes scolaires [Educational institutes or school-related bodies]"</a>. Banque de dépannage linguistique (in French). <q>Les parties d'un spécifique qui comporte plus d'un élément sont liées par un trait d'union [...] Exemples : l'école <a href="/wiki/Calixa_Lavall%C3%A9e" title="Calixa Lavallée">Calixa-Lavallée</a>, l'école <a href="/wiki/John_F._Kennedy" title="John F. Kennedy">John-F.-Kennedy</a></q></cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=Banque+de+d%C3%A9pannage+linguistique&rft.atitle=%C3%89tablissements+d%27enseignement+ou+organismes+scolaires+%5BEducational+institutes+or+school-related+bodies%5D&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fbdl.oqlf.gouv.qc.ca%2Fbdl%2Fgabarit_bdl.asp%3Fid%3D1298&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AFrench+orthography" class="Z3988">. Summary ranslation: "Multi-word "specifics" are hyphenated.". </li> </ol></div></div> </section><div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 section-heading" onclick="mfTempOpenSection(12)"><h2 id="Bibliography">Bibliography</h2> <a role="button" href="/w/index.php?title=French_orthography&action=edit&section=23" title="Edit section: Bibliography" class="cdx-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--icon-only cdx-button--weight-quiet "> edit </a> </div><section class="mf-section-12 collapsible-block" id="mf-section-12"> <ul><li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.dictionnaire-academie.fr/">Dictionnaire de l'Académie française</a></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFFouché1956" class="citation book cs1">Fouché, Pierre (1956). Traité de prononciation française. Paris: Klincksieck.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Trait%C3%A9+de+prononciation+fran%C3%A7aise&rft.place=Paris&rft.pub=Klincksieck&rft.date=1956&rft.aulast=Fouch%C3%A9&rft.aufirst=Pierre&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AFrench+orthography" class="Z3988"></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFTranel1987" class="citation book cs1">Tranel, Bernard (1987). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/details/soundsoffrenchin0000tran">The Sounds of French: An Introduction</a>. Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-521-31510-7" title="Special:BookSources/0-521-31510-7"><bdi>0-521-31510-7</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=The+Sounds+of+French%3A+An+Introduction&rft.place=Cambridge%2C+New+York&rft.pub=Cambridge+University+Press&rft.date=1987&rft.isbn=0-521-31510-7&rft.aulast=Tranel&rft.aufirst=Bernard&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Farchive.org%2Fdetails%2Fsoundsoffrenchin0000tran&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AFrench+orthography" class="Z3988"></li></ul> </section><div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 section-heading" onclick="mfTempOpenSection(13)"><h2 id="External_links">External links</h2> <a role="button" href="/w/index.php?title=French_orthography&action=edit&section=24" title="Edit section: External links" class="cdx-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--icon-only cdx-button--weight-quiet "> edit </a> </div><section class="mf-section-13 collapsible-block" id="mf-section-13"> <ul><li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.ortograf.net">Alternate French spelling</a> (in French)</li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090429093849/http://www.parisbypod.com/2007/08/14/french-alphabet/">Recording of 3 different voices pronouncing the French alphabet</a></li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4IMlvPjJyM">French alphabet pronounced by a native speaker (Youtube)</a></li></ul> <div class="navbox-styles"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1236075235">.mw-parser-output .navbox{box-sizing:border-box;border:1px solid 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last-modified-bar__content"> Last edited on 19 November 2024, at 09:17 </div> </a> <div class="post-content footer-content"> <div id='mw-data-after-content'> <div class="read-more-container"></div> </div> <div id="p-lang"> <h4>Languages</h4> <section> <ul id="p-variants" class="minerva-languages"></ul> <ul class="minerva-languages"><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-an mw-list-item"><a href="https://an.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ortograf%C3%ADa_d%27o_franc%C3%A9s" title="Ortografía d'o francés – Aragonese" lang="an" hreflang="an" data-title="Ortografía d'o francés" data-language-autonym="Aragonés" data-language-local-name="Aragonese" class="interlanguage-link-target">Aragonés</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-el mw-list-item"><a href="https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%9F%CF%81%CE%B8%CE%BF%CE%B3%CF%81%CE%B1%CF%86%CE%AF%CE%B1_%CF%84%CE%B7%CF%82_%CE%93%CE%B1%CE%BB%CE%BB%CE%B9%CE%BA%CE%AE%CF%82_%CE%B3%CE%BB%CF%8E%CF%83%CF%83%CE%B1%CF%82" title="Ορθογραφία της Γαλλικής γλώσσας – Greek" lang="el" hreflang="el" data-title="Ορθογραφία της Γαλλικής γλώσσας" data-language-autonym="Ελληνικά" data-language-local-name="Greek" class="interlanguage-link-target">Ελληνικά</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-eo mw-list-item"><a href="https://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franca_ortografio" title="Franca ortografio – Esperanto" lang="eo" hreflang="eo" data-title="Franca ortografio" data-language-autonym="Esperanto" data-language-local-name="Esperanto" class="interlanguage-link-target">Esperanto</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-fr mw-list-item"><a href="https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthographe_du_fran%C3%A7ais" title="Orthographe du français – French" lang="fr" hreflang="fr" data-title="Orthographe du français" data-language-autonym="Français" data-language-local-name="French" class="interlanguage-link-target">Français</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-it mw-list-item"><a href="https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ortografia_della_lingua_francese" title="Ortografia della lingua francese – Italian" lang="it" hreflang="it" data-title="Ortografia della lingua francese" data-language-autonym="Italiano" data-language-local-name="Italian" class="interlanguage-link-target">Italiano</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-hu mw-list-item"><a href="https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francia_helyes%C3%ADr%C3%A1s" title="Francia helyesírás – Hungarian" lang="hu" hreflang="hu" data-title="Francia helyesírás" data-language-autonym="Magyar" data-language-local-name="Hungarian" class="interlanguage-link-target">Magyar</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-pa mw-list-item"><a href="https://pa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A8%AB%E0%A8%BC%E0%A8%B0%E0%A8%BE%E0%A8%82%E0%A8%B8%E0%A9%80%E0%A8%B8%E0%A9%80_%E0%A8%AC%E0%A9%8B%E0%A8%B2%E0%A9%80_%E0%A8%B8%E0%A8%BC%E0%A8%AC%E0%A8%A6-%E0%A8%9C%E0%A9%8B%E0%A9%9C" title="ਫ਼ਰਾਂਸੀਸੀ ਬੋਲੀ ਸ਼ਬਦ-ਜੋੜ – Punjabi" lang="pa" hreflang="pa" data-title="ਫ਼ਰਾਂਸੀਸੀ ਬੋਲੀ ਸ਼ਬਦ-ਜੋੜ" data-language-autonym="ਪੰਜਾਬੀ" data-language-local-name="Punjabi" class="interlanguage-link-target">ਪੰਜਾਬੀ</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ro mw-list-item"><a href="https://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ortografia_limbii_franceze" title="Ortografia limbii franceze – Romanian" lang="ro" hreflang="ro" data-title="Ortografia limbii franceze" data-language-autonym="Română" data-language-local-name="Romanian" class="interlanguage-link-target">Română</a></li></ul> </section> </div> <div class="minerva-footer-logo"><img src="/static/images/mobile/copyright/wikipedia-wordmark-en.svg" alt="Wikipedia" width="120" height="18" style="width: 7.5em; height: 1.125em;"/> </div> <ul id="footer-info" class="footer-info hlist hlist-separated"> <li id="footer-info-lastmod"> This page was last edited on 19 November 2024, at 09:17 (UTC).</li> <li id="footer-info-copyright">Content is available under <a class="external" rel="nofollow" href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en">CC BY-SA 4.0</a> unless otherwise 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