What French accents mean - how to pronounce French

Problem
What do the French accents mean? How do you type French accents?

à - type this accent by pressing down the a key and then without releasing it, press 1 (one).à
This means the a (ay) if pronounced a s h a r p a as it cat.
For example
à la mode - the first à is sharp, as if (as in as and at) as if you were pricked by a pin.
The second a in la sounds like do re mi fa so la - la or lah, as in laugh!
voila

Let's look

the cédille Ç,
the accent aigu é,
the accent c i r c u m f l e x (spaces to thwart spellchecker changing the word)
â, ê, î, ô, û,
the accent grave à, è, ù
and the accent tréma ë, ï, ü.
French accents - Rocket Languages

ç Cedilla underneath c
ë To get the double dots over the e, press down the keyboard key for e and hold it down. Up op a series of letters e with different accent. Whilst holding down the e, tap the number 4. ë
The cedilla is like a comma under the letter c.

â Circumflex above
The circumflex is like a hat or roof. It usually stand for a missing letter, commonly the S.
For example tête meaning head. (Press on the e key - tap the number 3.)

Another circumflex is on the a. â

é è Aigu and Grave above
Take the word for school pupil at a secondary school: élève
The first accent on the e, going up, is the a i g i meaning sharp, indicating an upward or sharp 'eh!'
The second accent called grave (pronounced g r a h - v )as in la la la, far.

Tréma or double dot above ë or ï
For the letter i, type i and then the number two.
It is used to show both the letter (vowel) is it above and the previous vowel are both pronounced.
For example
heroīne
Israël
Noël
Just think of the two dots meaning pronounce two letters.

Tips
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diaeresis_(diacritic) (explains the double dot)
http://www.tolearnfrench.com/exercises/exercise-french-2/exercise-french-18620.php (explains the double dot)
https://www.rocketlanguages.com/french/lessons/french-accents

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author, speaker, and language teacher. Please share my posts.