This guide teaches you how to type French accent marks on qwerty keyboard. Accented letters are frequent in French and typing some French text without a French keyboard is tricky. Fortunately, you don’t need to purchase a French keyboard to type French accents.
- AZERTY keyboard vs QWERTY keyboard
- Can you skip accent marks when you type in French?
- What are the French accents?
- Use a virtual keyboard
- How to type French accent marks on Mac?
- How to type French special characters on Mac?
- Purchase a Mac with a QWERTY keyboard in France
- French accent marks and special characters on pc
- How to type French accent marks on pc?
- How to type French special characters on pc?
AZERTY keyboard versus QWERTY keyboard
French use azerty keyboards while English speakers use qwerty keyboards. I wish there could be French accents on qwerty keyboard but there is no such thing as a French qwerty keyboard.
QWERTY and AZERTY are easy names to describe the layout of a keyboard with the first five letters located in the upper left corner. French accents on keyboard are easily accessible in France. Here’s a picture of a French keyboard layout with the accent marks highlighted.
As you can see, the French keyboard layout makes it very easy to type é (e accent aigu), è (e accent grave) and à (a accent grave) with a single key.
Can you skip accent marks when you type in French?
Would French people understand a text in French without accents or special characters? Most of the time, they probably could but it makes any text look unprofessional, even childish. It can also introduce some confusion like in the following sentence. Is the French word marche (step or walk) or marché (market)?
Les eleves vont au marche de Noel a pied. [no accents]
Les élèves vont au marché de Noël à pied.
Students walk to the Christmas market.
There are also special characters that you cannot skip like in the word garçon (boy) or français (French). Omitting the c cédille (cedilla) is incorrect because a cedilla changes the pronunciation of the word.
To be taken seriously, learn how to quickly type French accents on a qwerty keyboard.
What are the French accent marks?
There are 4 types of accents in French:
- aigu (acute) é
- grave (grave) à è ù
- circonflexe (circumflex) â ê î ô û
- tréma (diaresis) ë ï ü
Use a virtual keyboard
Using a virtual keyboard like type it French is fast and easy when you occasionally need a French keyboard. Type your text, copy it, paste it wherever you need and voilà!
How to type French accent marks on a Mac
Use the accent menu
On Mac qwerty keyboard, the accent menu makes it easy to type French accents. Simply hold down the letter key you want to put an accent mark on and the accent menu automatically opens. In the accent menu, pick the accented letter that you want.
While this is very convenient, it is not as fast as typing a combination of keys. I highly recommend that you learn the different key combinations to be efficient in the long run.
Use key combinations
Learning key combinations can seem complicated at first but you’ll get the hang of it pretty fast. I’m still using the qwerty keyboard I brought back over 6 years ago and I type French accents everyday without even thinking about it.
Writing an accented letter with a combination of keys can be achieved in 2 steps on Mac qwerty keyboard.
1- Hold the Option key simultaneously with a modification key (i, e, `, u). This action displays the accent mark associated with the specific modification key: ˆ (accent circonflexe), ´ (accent aigu), ` (accent grave), ¨ (tréma).
2- Release both keys and type the letter you want to be accented (hold Shift if you want the letter in uppercase).
As an example:
- Press Option key simultaneously with the letter i. ˆ (accent circonflexe) is displayed.
- Release Option and i.
- Press the letter e. This displays ê (e accent circonflexe).
The different combination keys for accented letters are summarized below.
| Accent | Modification key (to use with Option) |
|---|---|
| ^ | i |
| ´ | e |
| ` | ` |
| ¨ | u |
How to type French special characters on a Mac
On Mac English-US keyboard, French special characters can be displayed with a simple combination of keyboard keys pressed simultaneously with Option.
The different combination keys for French special characters are summarized below. Look for the French names of these characters in the French glossary of accents.
| Special character | Key combination (to use with Option) |
|---|---|
| € | Shift + 2 |
| « | \ |
| » | Shift + \ |
| º | 0 (zero) |
| ç | c |
| œ | q |
| æ | ‘ |
| … | ; |
| ≠ | + |
Memorize the different key combinations visually with the following recap.
Hold Option and Shift
Purchase a Mac with a QWERTY keyboard in France
If you decide to purchase a new Mac in France, you can get any keyboard from Apple. On the same page that you use to customize your Mac (“Personnalisez votre MacBook Air”), scroll down to “langue du clavier” section.
Select Anglais américain to get a QWERTY keyboard for your new Mac.
French accents and special characters on PC
On PC with qwerty keyboard, you need to use the virtual United-States international keyboard in order to be able to type French accents. I will guide you through activating this keyboard layout on Windows 10.
For Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows XP, follow these instructions instead.
If you have already activated the United-States international keyboard, jump directly to learn how to type French accents on PC.
Activate the international keyboard on Windows 10
Go into Settings and select Time & Language.
In Time and Language, select Language.
Make sure English (United States) is selected. If it’s not selected then select it.
In the Preferred languages section underneath, select English (united States). This makes the Options button appear. Click on Options.
Select Add a keyboard.
In the list, select United States-International.
Close Settings. You are done!
You should see a new item in your taskbar that reads ENG INTL. This is where you can switch between keyboards.
When writing in French, select the United States-International keyboard and follow the instructions below for typing French accents and special characters with combinations of keys.
How to type French accent marks on a PC
Typing an accented letter with a combination of keys is a 2-step process on PC with a qwerty keyboard. Always select theUnited-States international keyboard first.
1- Hold 1 or 2 keys simultaneously.
2- Release both keys and type the letter you want to be accented (hold Shift if you want the letter in uppercase).
As an example:
- Press Shift simultaneously with the number 6.
- Release Shift and 6. Type e. This displays ê (e accent circonflexe).
The different combination keys for French accents are summarized below.
| Accent | Key combination |
|---|---|
| ^ | Shift + 6 |
| ‘ | ‘ |
| ` | ` |
| ¨ | Shift + ‘ |
Note
Using a single quote key as a modification key makes it difficult to type single and double quotes.
For instance, try typing j’arrive (I am coming) and chances are you’ll see jàrrive on your screen instead.
The workaround is to add an extra space after typing the single or double quote. The extra space does not show up on the screen.
How to type French special characters on PC
On PC with English-US keyboard, French special characters can be displayed in a simple combination of keys pressed simultaneously with Right Alt key. Remember to select theUnited-States international keyboard first.
The different combination keys for French special characters are summarized below.Check out the French names of these characters in the French glossary of accents.
| Special character | Key combination (to use with Right Alt) |
|---|---|
| € | 5 |
| « | [ |
| » | ] |
| º | Shift + ; |
| ç | , |
| æ | z |
To type the special character œ, press Left Alt and 0156 on the number keypad as there is no key combination for it.
Combination keys are tricky at first but trust me, you’ll master them quickly! Practice your French typing and have fun with some French idioms used every day!
