French Accents: é or è, the Circumflex Rules and AZERTY Keys

When does French write é, and when è?

Of the French accent marks on e, the acute and the grave are chosen by a rule: the place of the e in its syllable. The OQLF, Québec's office for the French language, sets out where an é can stand (opens in a new tab) and where an è goes (opens in a new tab). Both usually end their written syllable. What follows them makes the choice.

Where the e stands	Write	Examples
inside the word, before a syllable with no silent e	é	était, déjà, désolé, éléphant
at the end of the word, or before a plural s or a feminine e	é	été, passé, trouvé, beautés
at the start of the word, or in dé-, pré- and télé-, even before a silent e	é	éprouve, élevés, décelé, prévenu
before a syllable with a silent e	è	père, mère, frère, problème, première
before a final s	è	très, après, procès, accès
before a double consonant or an x	e, no mark	cellier, convexe, examen
before a final consonant other than s	e, no mark	pied, ciel

Était, déjà, désolé, été, passé, trouvé, très, après and the è words in their row come from the list of common words further down. The other examples are the OQLF's. That list shows the same split: every frequent word with è has a syllable with a silent e after it, or ends in s.

One family can use both letters. The OQLF's examples are fidèle and fidélité, mystère and mystérieux. The ending changes the next syllable, and the mark follows. Verbs do the same, so lever gives se lèveront and geler gives gèlerait. Jeter and acheter are exceptions that double the consonant instead.

Which common French words lose their circumflex in the 1990 spelling?

Every frequent word with î, and most with û. The rectifications of 1990 drop the circumflex from i and u, except where it tells two words apart or ends a verb form. The OQLF's list of rectified words (opens in a new tab) settles each word from the subtitle list below. The OQLF counts the old and the new spellings as both correct.

Traditional spelling	Rectified spelling	Why
boîte, dîner, île	boite, diner, ile	no other word to tell apart
maître, connaître, paraître	maitre, connaitre, paraitre	the same, and il connait, il parait
plaît	plait	listed under plaire
goût, coûte, brûler	gout, coute, bruler	the same rule on u
sûrement	surement	the adverb loses it
sûr, dû	sûr, dû	kept: they would read as sur and du

Of the French accents with a circumflex, those on a, e and o are untouched, so être, même, côté and hôpital keep theirs in both spellings. Since the OQLF accepts both spellings, a text in traditional spelling stays correct.

The Académie française is more cautious than the OQLF. Its annex on the rectifications (opens in a new tab) enters for good only the changes that bring an accent in line with pronunciation, such as allègement. The rest, the dropped circumflex among them, stay recommendations that usage will settle.

Why does French put a cedilla on c?

To make it sound like s before a, o and u. Without it, c in those places is said as k. The OQLF's note on the cédille (opens in a new tab) gives ça, façon and reçus. It points out that c before e, i or y already sounds like s, so ciel and cellulaire need nothing.

The rule explains a spelling change inside verbs. Commencer has no cedilla, but its nous form puts an o after the c, so it becomes commençons. Recevoir gives reçu the same way. The common words below show it: garçon, leçon, français and commençons all put a, o or u after the ç.

Among the accents in French, the cedilla is the only mark that sits under a letter. On a US keyboard it hides in a different place on each system. The table of keys below has every one of them, including the US-International layout's AltGr with the comma key.

Why can't the older French AZERTY keyboard type É?

Because it has no key for it, though it reaches the other French accents on small letters. Microsoft's data for the French (Legacy, AZERTY) (opens in a new tab) layout gives é, è, ç, à and ù a key each, and a dead key for the circumflex and the tréma. It has no acute dead key and no capital É. The newer French (Standard, AZERTY) (opens in a new tab) layout fills the gaps.

We read both layouts key by key on 2026-10-18; the table sets them side by side.

What you want	French (Legacy, AZERTY)	French (Standard, AZERTY)
é	the 2 key	the 2 key
è	the 7 key	the 3 key
à	the 0 key	the 1 key
ê	the dead key right of P, then e	the 4 key
ç	the 9 key	AltGr with C
ù	the key right of M	AltGr with U
œ	no key	AltGr with O
ë ï ü ÿ	Shift on the dead key right of P, then the vowel	the same
É	no key, no dead key	Shift and AltGr with the 2 key
À È Ù	AltGr with 7, a grave dead key, then the capital	Shift and AltGr with 1, 3 or U

The French keyboard page compares the rest of the two layouts, digits and punctuation included, and the Canadian ones.

The Académie française (opens in a new tab) asks for the accent on capitals all the same. The accent has full spelling value on a capital, and leaving it off slows reading and can mislead.

On a US keyboard, the US-International layout (opens in a new tab) covers French with dead keys, by Microsoft's data for it. The apostrophe, then e, gives é, and the apostrophe, then c, gives ç. The grave key, then a, e or u, gives à, è or ù.

Shift+6, then a vowel, gives â, ê, î, ô or û. The quotation mark, then a vowel, gives ë, ï, ü or ÿ. It has no key for œ. On a Mac each mark has its own Option dead key, and œ is a single chord, Option+Q.