Our Day 2

Immersion – 2
The Five French Accents

S.NO	Name	Symbol	Letters used and pronunciation	Example
1.	Acute accent	/	é (ey)	le café (luh kah – fey) = coffee
2.	Grave accent	\	è(eh) à(ah) ù(oh)	la mère (lah mehr)= mother voilà (vwah – lah) = there is où (ooh) = where
3.	Circumflex accent	^	â(ah) ê(eh) ô(oh) î(ee) û(oh)	le château (luh shah – toh)= castle la forêt (lah foh – reh)= forest l’ hôpital (loh–pee –tahl)= hospital le dîner (luh-dee-nay)=dinner le goûter (luh gooh – tey)= snack
4.	cedilla	¸	Ç(s)	le garçon (luh gahr – sohN)=boy
5.	dieresis or tréma	..(This symbol Indicates that each vowel In a word is pronounced separately)	ë ï	noël(noh – ehl)= christmas naïf(nah – eef)= naive,simple

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Part B
Interaction Time
Copy the text in part A and read it aloud to your partner/friends.

Exercise

1. Acute accent ( / )
thé (tey) = tea
prénom (prey – nohN) = first name
présenter (prey – zahN- tey) = to introduce
enchantée (ahN –shahN – tey) = delighted

2. Grave accent ( \ )
très (treh) = very much
là bas (lah bah) = over there
pièce (pyehs) = room
frère (frehr) = brother

3. Circumflex accent ( ^ )
gâteau (gah – toh) = cake
hôtel (oh – tehl) = hotel
tête (teht) = head
fêtes (feht) = holidays / festivals

4. Cedilla (¸)
français (m) (frahN – seh) = French (language & men)
française (f) (frahN – sez) = French women
ça va? (sah vah?) = Are you ok?
reçu (ruh – sew) = receipt
garçon (ghar-sohN) = boy
leçon (luh-sohN) = lesson

Note:

1. “N” stands for nasal sound
2. “un bon vin blanc” (uhN bohn vaN blahN) = a good white wine.
The above phrase contains all French nasal sounds.