When to use accents on 'e' in French

3 min read

Many learners struggle with writing in French, due to the strict rules and tricky orthography. One of these issues is accents or diacritics.

French uses four different accent marks on the letter e:

Accent grave (è)
Accent aigu (é)
Circumflex (ê)
Trèma (ë)

ë is straigtforward - it indicates that the letter should be read separately:

For example, Noël is pronounced [nɔɛl], whilst Noel would be pronounced [nwɛl].

There are not many words that use ë, and you shouldn’t worry about it, you will remember these words when they come.

But for the other 3 accents - their placement can feel unpredictable.

Which is true.

But there are actually a couple of tricks that might help you - these accents aren’t completely random, they follow a small set of fairly reliable patterns. Once you understand how syllables work (and why the circumflex exists) you can choose the correct accent with more confidence.

Step 1: Does the “E” Get an Accent?

Before deciding which accent to use, you must first decide whether an accent is written at all.

In many words, an e sounds like è but carries no accent. Common examples include mettre and ouvert. The reason has nothing to do with pronunciation alone - it depends on syllable structure.

Accent marks appear only in open syllables.

An open syllable ends in a vowel.
A closed syllable ends in a consonant.

If the syllable ends in a consonant, the e remains unaccented, even when it sounds open.

Example

The word nécessité breaks down as:

né.ces.si.té

Only the syllables that end in a vowel - the first and the last - receive accent marks.

Note: don’t overthing the final letter, if it’s pronounced then you know that it’s é.

Step 2: Choosing Between “É” and “È”

Once you know an accent is required, the choice between é and è depends on what comes next.

Use é when the following syllable contains a pronounced vowel.
Use è when the following syllable contains a mute vowel.

Examples

première → pre.miè.re The final e is silent, so the accent is è.
éphémère → é.phé.mè.re Here again, the following vowel is mute, which explains the è.

This same logic explains why événement is now frequently written évènement (after the 1990 spelling reforms): the middle e is typically not pronounced in modern French.

The Circumflex Accent (Ê)

The circumflex accent does not follow the same rules as é and è. It is not determined by syllables or mute vowels. Instead, it usually reflects earlier forms of the language.

In many words, the circumflex marks the disappearance of an s that historically followed the vowel.

Examples

forêt (from forest)
hôpital (from hospital)
fête (from feste)
être (from estre)

I hope these little tips will help you write a bit better!

You can also use our Anki deck to drill the accents.