Why is "Leaving accents off when writing (café written as cafe, où as ou)" a common mistake in The French alphabet, accents and pronunciation rules?

Why it happens: English has no accents, so beginners treat them as optional decoration. How to avoid it: Treat an accent as part of the spelling, like a letter. Learn high-frequency accented words by heart (café, élève, père, français, à, où) and double-check them in every written answer. Source: Cambridge 0520 Examiner Reports — Paper 4 (Writing), accuracy

Why is "Using an English r and missing the French u sound" a common mistake in The French alphabet, accents and pronunciation rules?

Why it happens: These sounds don't exist in English, so the brain substitutes the nearest English sound. How to avoid it: Drill the throaty r (merci, rouge, Paris) and the rounded-lip u (tu, salut, rue) in isolation daily. Practise the minimal pair tu /y/ vs tout /u/ until you can both say and hear the difference. Source: Cambridge 0520 Examiner Reports — Paper 3 (Speaking), pronunciation

Why is "Pronouncing a hard English 'n' in nasal vowels (bon said as 'bonn')" a common mistake in The French alphabet, accents and pronunciation rules?

Why it happens: Beginners read the n as a normal consonant instead of letting it nasalise the vowel. How to avoid it: Let the n disappear into the nose — say the vowel and stop short of the n. Remember a single n nasalises (bon) but a doubled n is pronounced clearly (bonne), so the two sound different. Source: Cambridge 0520 Examiner Reports — Paper 3 (Speaking)

Why is "Forgetting liaison and elision (saying 'le ami' or writing 'je ai')" a common mistake in The French alphabet, accents and pronunciation rules?

Why it happens: English keeps words separate, so learners don't link or contract them. How to avoid it: In writing, always contract before a vowel (j'ai, l'école, qu'il). In speech, link a silent final consonant onto a following vowel: les‿amis (lay-za-MEE). Source: Cambridge 0520 Examiner Reports — Papers 3 & 4

Why is "Pronouncing silent final consonants (saying the s in Paris or the t in petit)" a common mistake in The French alphabet, accents and pronunciation rules?

Why it happens: Learners read every letter, as in English. How to avoid it: Apply the rule: final consonants are usually silent (Paris → pa-REE). Keep only the CaReFuL set (c, r, f, l), e.g. avec, bonjour, neuf, avril, and any consonant followed by a final -e. Source: Cambridge 0520 Examiner Reports — Paper 3 (Speaking)

Why is "Using English letter names when spelling aloud" a common mistake in The French alphabet, accents and pronunciation rules?

Why it happens: Candidates default to the alphabet they learned as children. How to avoid it: Learn the French letter names, especially the traps: i ('ee'), e ('uh'), g ('zhay'), j ('zhee'), r ('air'), u (the /y/ sound), w ('double vé'), y ('i grec'). Source: Cambridge 0520 Examiner Reports — Paper 3 (Speaking)

Language FoundationsCambridge IGCSE French (0520)

The French alphabet, accents and pronunciation rules

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The French alphabet, accents and pronunciation rules — Cambridge IGCSE French 0520 (2025-2027)

A complete beginner's guide to how French letters sound, what the five accents do, and the spelling-to-sound rules that finally make French readable and speakable. Build the foundation every Paper 1 Listening and Paper 3 Speaking mark depends on.

At a glance

French uses the same 26 letters as English, but several of them sound completely different — especially the vowels a, e, i, u and the letter r.
There are five accents: accent aigu (é), accent grave (è / à / ù), accent circonflexe (ê / â / î / ô / û), tréma (ë / ï) and cédille (ç). Each one changes sound, meaning, or both.
Final consonants are usually silent — the classic example is Paris (pa-REE), where the final 's' is not pronounced.
Liaison links a normally-silent final consonant to the next word when it starts with a vowel: les amis sounds like lay-za-MEE.
Elision chops a vowel and replaces it with an apostrophe: le ami becomes l'ami (the friend).
French has nasal vowels (on, an, in, un) that have no English equivalent — air comes partly down the nose and the 'n' itself is not fully pronounced.
The French r is made in the back of the throat (a soft gargle), and the French u is a sound English does not have — round your lips for 'oo' but say 'ee'.
Accents are not optional decoration: writing ou instead of où, or a instead of à, can change the word completely and cost marks in Paper 4 Writing.

What you’ll learn

Mapped to the Cambridge IGCSE 0520 syllabus (2025-2027).

Recite the French alphabet and recognise how each letter is named and sounded.
Identify the five French accents and explain the effect each one has on pronunciation and meaning.
Apply the rule that most final consonants are silent, and name the common exceptions.
Recognise and produce liaison and elision in connected speech.
Produce the four nasal vowels (on, an, in, un) and distinguish them by ear.
Pronounce the distinctive French r and u sounds.
Use basic spelling-to-sound rules to read an unfamiliar French word aloud with reasonable accuracy.

The 26 letters — same shapes, new sounds

French uses the English alphabet, but the letter names and many sounds are different.

Good news first: French uses exactly the same 26 letters as English, written the same way. You already know the shapes. What changes is (1) how each letter is named when you spell aloud, and (2) what sound it makes inside a word.

You will need the letter names for the Speaking exam — examiners sometimes ask you to spell your name or a town (Comment ça s'écrit ? — how do you spell that?).

Here are the trickiest letter names for an English speaker, with a plain-English respelling:

Letter	French name	Sounds like	Note
e	e	"uh" (euh)	Not "ee" as in English
g	gé	"zhay"	Soft 'j' sound
h	hache	"ash"	The letter 'h' is always silent in words
i	i	"ee"	This catches everyone out
j	ji	"zhee"	The reverse of English g/j
r	erre	"air"	Throaty French r
u	u	the French u sound	See the vowels section
w	double vé	"doo-bluh-vay"	Literally "double v"
y	i grec	"ee-grek"	Literally "Greek i"

Two letters are essentially borrowed. The letters k and w are rare in French and appear mostly in imported words (le week-end — the weekend, le kilo — the kilo).

Worked mini-example — spelling your name aloud. To spell MARC in the Speaking exam you would say: "em – a – erre – cé" → roughly em – ah – air – say. Practise spelling your own name and home town now; it is a genuine exam task.

Same 26 letters as English — only the names and sounds differ.
i is named 'ee', e is named 'uh', j is 'zhee', g is 'zhay'.
h is always silent inside words.
k and w are rare and mostly appear in borrowed words.

The five accents and what each one does

Accents change how a letter sounds, distinguish similar words, or soften a consonant.

The five French accents on sample letters, with what each one does and an example.

French has five accents. They are part of the correct spelling — leaving one out is a spelling mistake, exactly like missing a letter in English.

Accent	French name	Looks like	What it does
Acute	accent aigu	é	Only ever on e. Makes a closed "ay" sound: café (ka-FAY) — coffee/café
Grave	accent grave	è à ù	On e opens it to "eh" (mère — mother). On a and u it changes meaning, not sound
Circumflex	accent circonflexe	ê â î ô û	Often marks a lost old 's'; can lengthen/open the vowel: forêt (fo-REH) — forest
Diaeresis	tréma	ë ï ü	Means "pronounce this vowel separately": Noël (no-EL) — Christmas
Cedilla	cédille	ç	Only ever under c. Forces a soft "s" sound before a, o, u: français (fron-SEH) — French

1. Accent aigu (é) — the "ay" accent. It appears only on the letter e and gives a crisp, closed ay sound (IPA /e/). Examples: été (ay-TAY) — summer; téléphone (tay-lay-FON) — telephone. Very common at the end of past-participle verbs: mangé (mon-ZHAY) — eaten.

2. Accent grave (è, à, ù) — the "eh" / meaning accent.

On e it opens the sound to eh (IPA /ɛ/): père (pair) — father, très (treh) — very.
On a it does not change the sound at all — it separates words that are otherwise spelled the same: a (has) vs à (to/at); la (the) vs là (there).
On u it appears in just one common word: où (where), to distinguish it from ou (or).

3. Accent circonflexe (ê, â, î, ô, û) — the "little hat". Historically it often shows where an 's' used to be — which is a lovely memory hook because the English cousin word frequently still has the 's': forêt → forest; hôpital → hospital; île → isle/island; château → castle (think 'castle'). On e it sounds like eh; on the others it mostly lengthens the vowel.

4. Tréma (ë, ï, ü) — "say me separately". Two dots tell you the vowel is pronounced as its own syllable rather than blended with the one before it. Compare the blended ai in mais (meh — but) with Noël (no-EL — Christmas), where the tréma splits o and e. Also naïf (na-EEF) — naive.

5. Cédille (ç) — the "soft c hook". The little hook under c appears only before a, o, u and forces a soft s sound where the c would otherwise be hard k. Compare car (kar — coach/because) with ça (sa — that), and garçon (gar-SON) — boy. Without the cedilla, garçon would wrongly be read "gar-KON".

é (aigu) → closed 'ay'; only on e.
è (grave) → open 'eh' on e; on a/u it separates look-alike words (à vs a, où vs ou).
ê (circonflexe) → often a lost 's' (forêt → forest); usually lengthens/opens the vowel.
ë/ï (tréma) → pronounce the vowel separately (Noël = no-EL).
ç (cédille) → soft 's' before a/o/u (garçon = gar-SON).

Silent final consonants — why Paris is 'pa-REE'

Most consonants at the end of a French word are not pronounced.

One of the biggest shocks for beginners is that French usually does not pronounce the consonant at the end of a word. The word is shorter out loud than it looks on paper.

Written	Said	English
Paris	pa-REE	Paris
petit	puh-TEE	small
grand	gron	big/tall
trois	trwa	three
vous	voo	you (formal/plural)
beaucoup	bo-KOO	a lot

A handy memory aid is the word CaReFuL: the consonants c, r, f, l are the ones that often (not always) stay pronounced at the end of a word. Examples: avec (a-VEK — with), bonjour (bon-ZHOOR — hello, the r is heard), neuf (nuhf — nine), avril (a-VREEL — April).

The silent 'e' at the end. A final -e with no accent is also silent, but it has a side-effect: it makes the consonant before it sound. Compare:

grand (gron) — big (masculine), final d silent.
grande (grond) — big (feminine), the added -e is silent but it "switches on" the d.

This is exactly how many feminine adjectives reveal a hidden consonant.

Worked mini-example. Read les petits chats (the small cats). Final s on les, petits and chats are all silent → lay puh-TEE sha. Three written 's' letters, zero 's' sounds. (We will see liaison can wake some of them up next.)

Most final consonants are silent: Paris → pa-REE, petit → puh-TEE.
CaReFuL (c, r, f, l) are the consonants that often stay pronounced.
A final unaccented -e is silent but switches ON the consonant before it (grand → grande).
Plural -s is almost always silent.

Liaison and elision — words that join hands

French links words together: a silent consonant can wake up, and a vowel can be dropped.

French is famous for sounding "joined up". Two rules cause this: liaison and elision.

Liaison — the silent consonant wakes up. When a word ends in a normally-silent consonant and the next word begins with a vowel (or silent h), that consonant is pronounced and "glued" to the next word.

Phrase	Without liaison (wrong)	With liaison (correct)	English
les amis	lay … a-MEE	lay-za-MEE	the friends
un enfant	uhn … on-FON	uh-non-FON	a child
vous êtes	voo … et	voo-zet	you are
nous avons	noo … a-VON	noo-za-VON	we have

Notice the linking sounds: a written s links as a z sound, a written n links as n, a written t links as t (petit ami → puh-tee-ta-MEE — boyfriend).

Elision — the vowel gets dropped. When a short word ending in a vowel (le, la, je, ne, de, que, ce) meets a word starting with a vowel or silent h, the final vowel is deleted and replaced by an apostrophe:

le + ami → l'ami (the friend)
je + ai → j'ai (I have)
ne + est → n'est (is not)
que + il → qu'il (that he)

Elision is compulsory in writing, not just speech — you must write the apostrophe.

Worked mini-example. Je ai un ami is wrong on two counts. Fix it: je ai → j'ai (elision), and un ami → say uh-na-MEE (liaison). Correct written form: J'ai un ami (I have a friend), pronounced zhay uh-na-MEE.

Liaison: a silent final consonant is pronounced before a vowel — les amis → lay-za-MEE.
Linking sounds: s → 'z', n → 'n', t → 't'.
Elision: drop a final vowel and use an apostrophe — le ami → l'ami, je ai → j'ai.
Elision must be written, not only spoken.

Nasal vowels — on, an, in, un

When a vowel is followed by m or n, the sound goes partly down the nose and the n is not fully said.

The four nasal vowels with examples; a doubled n switches the nasal off.

Nasal vowels are the most "French-sounding" feature of the language and have no exact English equivalent. They happen when a vowel is followed by m or n at the end of a syllable. The trick: you let air escape through your nose, and you do not fully pronounce the n or m — it just colours the vowel.

There are four main nasal sounds:

Spelling	Plain-English hint	IPA	Example	English
on / om	like "song" without the hard g	/ɔ̃/	bon (bon)	good
an / am / en / em	like "aunt" through the nose	/ɑ̃/	grand (gron)	big
in / im / ain / ein	like a nasal "an" in "bank"	/ɛ̃/	vin (van)	wine
un / um	similar to in, slightly rounder	/œ̃/	un (uhn)	a / one

Key rule — the n "switches off" when doubled or followed by a vowel. The nasal sound only happens when the m/n closes the syllable. If the n is doubled or followed by a vowel, the vowel becomes ordinary again and the n is pronounced normally:

bon (bon, nasal) vs bonne (bon, non-nasal, clear n) — masculine vs feminine of "good".
an (on, nasal — year) vs Anne (an, clear n — the name).
vin (van, nasal — wine) vs vinaigre (vee-NEGR — vinegar), where the n is followed by a vowel.

Worked mini-example. Say un bon vin blanc (a good white wine). All four words carry nasal sounds: uhn bon van blon. Notice you never crisply pronounce a single 'n' — each one melts into the vowel before it.

Nasal vowel = vowel + m/n closing a syllable; air goes through the nose, the n is not fully said.
Four sounds: on (bon), an/en (grand), in/ain (vin), un (un).
A doubled n or an n followed by a vowel cancels the nasal sound (bon vs bonne).
Practice phrase: un bon vin blanc uses all the nasal families.

The two hardest sounds — French r and French u

The r is a soft throat-gargle; the u is 'ee' said with rounded lips.

Two sounds defeat almost every English beginner. They are worth practising on their own because they appear in extremely common words.

The French r (IPA /ʁ/) — made in the throat, not the tongue-tip. English r is made at the front of the mouth. French r is made at the back of the throat, like the very start of a gentle gargle or the soft sound when clearing your throat. It is not rolled like a Spanish rr.

Practise on: rouge (roozh — red), merci (mair-SEE — thank you), Paris (pa-REE), bonjour (bon-ZHOOR — hello).
Tip: say the English word "loch" (Scottish) or "Bach", feel where the back of your tongue rises — the French r lives in roughly that spot, but softer and voiced.

The French u (IPA /y/) — a brand-new vowel. English has no /y/ sound. To make it:

Say "ee" (as in see) and hold it.
Keep your tongue exactly where it is.
Now round your lips as if to whistle or say "oo". The result — tongue saying "ee", lips saying "oo" — is the French u.

Practise on: tu (tew — you, informal), salut (sa-LEW — hi/bye), bus (bews — bus), rue (rew — street).

Crucial contrast: u vs ou.

u = the new /y/ sound (lips rounded, tongue forward): tu (tew) — you.
ou = a plain "oo" like English food: tout (too) — all/everything; vous (voo) — you (formal). Mixing these up changes words: tu (you) vs tout (everything); dessus (on top) vs dessous (underneath).

Worked mini-example. Read Salut, tu vas à la rue ? (Hi, are you going to the street?). Target sounds: sa-LEW, tew va a la rew — three French u /y/ sounds and one throaty r. Say it slowly, exaggerating the lip-rounding, until it feels natural.

French r /ʁ/ = soft throat-gargle at the back of the mouth, never a front-of-mouth English r and never a rolled Spanish rr.
French u /y/ = say 'ee', then round your lips — a sound English does not have.
Keep u /y/ (tu = tew) distinct from ou /u/ (tout = too).
Drill common words: merci, rouge, tu, salut, rue.

Basic spelling-to-sound rules for reading aloud

French spelling is regular: once you learn the vowel teams and a few consonant rules, you can read most words.

Unlike English, French spelling is highly regular. The same letter combinations almost always make the same sound, so once you learn a small set of "vowel teams" and consonant rules you can read words you have never seen.

Vowel teams (digraphs).

Spelling	Sound	Example	English
ou	"oo" /u/	vous (voo)	you
eau / au	"oh" /o/	eau (oh), chaud (show)	water, hot
ai / ei	"eh" /ɛ/	mais (meh), neige (nezh)	but, snow
eu / œu	"uh" /ø/ /œ/	deux (duh), sœur (sur)	two, sister
oi	"wa" /wa/	moi (mwa), trois (trwa)	me, three

Consonant rules.

c is hard "k" before a, o, u (café — coffee) but soft "s" before e, i (cinéma — cinema). The cédille (ç) forces "s" before a, o, u.
g is hard "g" before a, o, u (gare — station) but soft "zh" before e, i (girafe — giraffe).
ch = "sh" /ʃ/: chat (sha) — cat, chaud (show) — hot. (Not the English "ch" of chair.)
gn = "ny" /ɲ/, like the ni in "onion": montagne (mon-TA-nyuh) — mountain.
qu = plain "k": qui (kee) — who, quatre (KATR) — four. The u is silent.
th = plain "t": thé (tay) — tea. There is no English "th" sound in French.
ll after i is often "y": fille (fee-yuh) — girl/daughter, famille (fa-MEE-yuh) — family.
h is always silent: heure (ur) — hour, hôtel (o-TEL) — hotel.

Stress is even. French does not hammer one syllable the way English does. Syllables are roughly equal, with a very slight lift on the last one: té-lé-phone → tay-lay-FONE, not "TEL-e-phone".

Worked mini-example. Decode la montagne est belle using the rules. gn → "ny", final t of est silent, elle → "ell". Result: la mon-TA-nyuh eh bell (the mountain is beautiful). You can now read it without ever having heard it.

Vowel teams are consistent: ou=oo, eau/au=oh, ai/ei=eh, eu=uh, oi=wa.
c and g are soft before e/i, hard before a/o/u.
ch=sh, gn=ny, qu=k, th=t, h=silent.
French stress is even, with a slight lift on the last syllable.
Because spelling is regular, you can read unfamiliar words by rule.

Quick recap

French uses the same 26 letters as English; the letter names and several sounds differ (i='ee', e='uh', g='zhay', j='zhee').
Five accents: é (aigu, 'ay'), è/à/ù (grave — 'eh' on e, meaning on a/u), ê (circonflexe — often a lost 's'), ë/ï (tréma — separate vowel), ç (cédille — soft 's').
Most final consonants are silent (Paris → pa-REE); CaReFuL (c, r, f, l) often stay pronounced.
Liaison wakes a silent consonant before a vowel (les amis → lay-za-MEE); elision drops a vowel with an apostrophe (le ami → l'ami).
Four nasal vowels — on, an, in, un — with the n melting into the nose; a doubled n cancels the nasal (bon vs bonne).
The French r is a back-of-throat gargle; the French u /y/ is 'ee' said with rounded lips and differs from ou /u/.
French spelling is regular — learn the vowel teams (ou, eau, ai, eu, oi) and soft/hard c & g, and you can read new words by rule.

How it’s examined

Sound and spelling underpin all four papers in Cambridge IGCSE French 0520.

Paper 1 (Listening): You must hear the difference between near-identical sounds — u vs ou (tu/tout), nasal contrasts (an/Anne), and liaison-linked phrases. Mishearing a nasal or a /y/ vowel leads directly to wrong answers.
Paper 2 (Reading): Knowing spelling-to-sound rules lets you decode unfamiliar words and spot cognates (théâtre → theatre). The circumflex-as-lost-'s' trick (forêt → forest) reveals meanings quickly.
Paper 3 (Speaking): Accurate vowels (especially u and the nasals), the throaty r, correct liaison, and even stress all contribute to the pronunciation and fluency marks. You may also be asked to spell aloud, so the French letter names matter.
Paper 4 (Writing): Accents are part of correct spelling. Omitting them (ou for où, a for à, missing the cédille in français) is penalised as a spelling/accuracy error and can change meaning.

Examiner reports for French repeatedly note that candidates lose accuracy marks through missing or misplaced accents and through anglicised pronunciation of the r and u in the Speaking test.

Sources: Cambridge IGCSE French 0520 Syllabus 2025-2027; Cambridge 0520 Paper 1 (Listening) & Paper 3 (Speaking) Specimen 2025-2027; Cambridge 0520 Examiner Reports 2022-2024. Last reviewed 2026-06-02.

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Step-by-step worked examples — The French alphabet, accents and pronunciation rules

Step-by-step solutions to past-paper-style questions on the french alphabet, accents and pronunciation rules, written exactly the way a tutor would explain them at the board.

1Spell a word aloud using the French alphabet
Getting started
Question
In the Speaking exam the examiner asks: Comment ça s'écrit ? (How do you spell that?). Spell the town NICE aloud using the French letter names, and give a plain-English respelling.
Step-by-step solution
1. Step 1
  Recall the French letter names, which differ from English. N = enne (enn), I = i (ee), C = cé (say), E = e (uh).
2. Step 2
  Watch the trap letters. French i is named 'ee' (not 'eye') and French e is named 'uh' (not 'ee'). These two are the ones English speakers get wrong most often.
3. Step 3
  Say the four letters in order, leaving a tiny pause between each so the examiner can write them down.
Answer
N-I-C-E → enne – i – cé – e → roughly enn – ee – say – uh.
Examiner tip
Spelling aloud is a genuine Paper 3 task. The two letters that lose candidates marks are i ('ee', not 'eye') and e ('uh', not 'ee'). Learn the French names for every letter in your own name and home town before the exam.
2Place the correct accents on a sentence
Building confidence
Question
Add the missing accents: Le pere de mon ami achete un cafe a la gare. (My friend's father buys a coffee at the station.)
Step-by-step solution
1. Step 1
  pere → père. The 'eh' sound on this e needs an accent grave (è).
2. Step 2
  achete → achète. The verb acheter (to buy) takes an accent grave on this 'eh' sound: il achète.
3. Step 3
  cafe → café. The closing 'ay' sound needs an accent aigu (é).
4. Step 4
  a → à. Here 'a' means 'at/to', so it needs the accent grave to separate it from a meaning 'has'.
Answer
Le père de mon ami achète un café à la gare. (Accents: père = grave, achète = grave, café = aigu, à = grave.)
Examiner tip
Cambridge 0520 examiner reports list missing accents as a top accuracy error in Paper 4. The à/a distinction is tested often: à = 'to/at', plain a = 'has' (from avoir). Both the sound accents (è, é) and the meaning accent (à) must be present.
3Decode an unfamiliar word using spelling-to-sound rules
Building confidence
Question
You meet the word bibliothèque in a Paper 2 Reading text and don't know it. Sound it out by rule and work out the English meaning.
Step-by-step solution
1. Step 1
  Apply the consonant rules. th = plain 't', the qu = 'k', the final e and the silent letters drop. ch doesn't appear here, but biblio reads straightforwardly.
2. Step 2
  Apply the accent. The è (accent grave) gives an open 'eh' sound on that syllable: -thèque → 'tek'.
3. Step 3
  Blend it: bee-blee-o-TEK.
4. Step 4
  Find the cognate. 'Biblio-' is the root of English bibliography, bible — it means 'book'. A bibliothèque is therefore a place for books.
Answer
bibliothèque = bee-blee-o-TEK = library. Decoded by rule (th=t, qu=k, è='eh') and matched to the 'biblio' (book) root.
Examiner tip
Sounding words out is an active Reading strategy, not just a Speaking skill. French spelling is regular, so decoding an unknown word often reveals a cognate (pharmacie → pharmacy, théâtre → theatre) you would miss by eye alone.
4Fix liaison and elision in a phrase
Stretch
Question
Correct and pronounce: Je ai deux ami et je vais a le ecole. (I have two friends and I'm going to the school.) Several joins are wrong.
Step-by-step solution
1. Step 1
  Elision: je ai → j'ai. Je before a vowel drops its e and takes an apostrophe.
2. Step 2
  Liaison: deux amis. The final x of deux links as a 'z' before the vowel: duh-za-MEE. (Also correct the plural: amis.)
3. Step 3
  Elision/contraction: à le école → à l'école. Le before a vowel becomes l' (elision). (à + le would also contract, but with l' the question doesn't arise.)
4. Step 4
  Liaison in je vais stays as is, but the join vais à is smooth. Read the whole thing linking vowel-to-vowel.
Answer
J'ai deux amis et je vais à l'école. Pronounced roughly zhay duh-za-MEE ay zhuh vay a lay-KOL. (Elisions: j'ai, l'école; liaison: deux‿amis.)
Examiner tip
Liaison and elision are tested for accuracy in Paper 4 (the apostrophes must be written) and for fluency in Paper 3. Forgetting the apostrophe in j'ai or l'école is a spelling error; failing to link deux amis costs pronunciation fluency marks.

Model Answers — The French alphabet, accents and pronunciation rules

High-scoring sample answers for the french alphabet, accents and pronunciation rules on the Cambridge IGCSE 0520 paper, with examiner-style notes mapping each response to the mark scheme and assessment objectives.

Question 1
Paper 3 (Speaking) style. The examiner asks you to introduce yourself and spell your surname. Give a model response for a candidate named Marc Dubois.
Model answer
Je m'appelle Marc Dubois. (My name is Marc Dubois.) Ça s'écrit (it's spelled): D – U – B – O – I – S — pronounced dé – u – bé – o – i – esse (roughly day – ü – bay – oh – ee – ess).

For the first name: M – A – R – C — em – a – erre – cé (roughly em – ah – air – say).
Why this scores
Why this scores. It uses the French letter names (not English), correctly handles the tricky ones — u as the /y/ sound, i as 'ee', e as 'uh', and the throaty r ('erre'). The candidate also produces the silent final s correctly when Dubois is said as a word (du-BWA) but names it ('esse') when spelling. This control of sound vs spelling is exactly what the pronunciation marks reward.
Question 2
Paper 3 (Speaking) style. You did not catch what the examiner said. Give a polite, correct way to ask them to repeat or spell it.
Model answer
Pardon, pouvez-vous répéter, s'il vous plaît ? (Sorry, could you repeat, please?)

If you need the spelling: Comment ça s'écrit ? (How is that spelled?)

If you need the meaning: Qu'est-ce que ça veut dire ? (What does that mean?)
Why this scores
Why this scores. These are correct, natural fall-back phrases that keep the conversation going — examiners reward candidates who manage communication rather than freezing. Note the accents that MUST be there: the é in répéter (two of them) and the cédille-free but accent-correct s'écrit. Using vous (not tu) is appropriate for an examiner.
Question 3
Paper 3 (Speaking) style. Read this sentence aloud with correct French sounds: Un bon vin blanc est dans la maison. (A good white wine is in the house.) Describe the target pronunciation.
Model answer
Target: uhn bon van blon eh don la may-ZON.

The nasal vowels: un (uhn), bon (bon), vin (van), blanc (blon), dans (don), maison (-ZON) — six nasal sounds, and in none of them is the n crisply pronounced; each n melts into the nose. The final t of est is silent (eh).
Why this scores
Why this scores. It demonstrates control of the four nasal families (on, an, in, un) in one breath, and correctly silences the final t of est. Examiner reports flag anglicised nasals (a hard 'n') as a common fluency weakness; letting the n disappear is the single biggest improvement a beginner can make to their accent.

Key Definitions and Keywords — The French alphabet, accents and pronunciation rules

Definitions to memorise and the exact keywords mark schemes credit for the french alphabet, accents and pronunciation rules answers — sharpened from recent examiner reports for the 2026 0520 sitting.

Accent aigu (é)
Examiner keyword
The acute accent, used only on the letter e. It gives a closed 'ay' sound /e/.
Example
café (ka-FAY) — coffee; été (ay-TAY) — summer.
Accent grave (è, à, ù)
Examiner keyword
The grave accent. On e it opens the sound to 'eh' /ɛ/; on a and u it changes meaning, not sound, separating look-alike words.
Example
père (pair) — father; à (to/at) vs a (has); où (where) vs ou (or).
Accent circonflexe (ê, â, î, ô, û)
The circumflex ('little hat'). It often marks a lost old 's' and usually lengthens or opens the vowel.
Example
forêt (fo-REH) — forest; hôpital (o-pee-TAL) — hospital.
Tréma (ë, ï)
The diaeresis — two dots telling you to pronounce the vowel as a separate syllable rather than blending it.
Example
Noël (no-EL) — Christmas; naïf (na-EEF) — naive.
Cédille (ç)
Examiner keyword
The cedilla, a hook under c. It forces a soft 's' sound before a, o or u, where c would otherwise be a hard 'k'.
Example
français (fron-SEH) — French; garçon (gar-SON) — boy.
Liaison
Examiner keyword
Pronouncing a normally-silent final consonant because the next word starts with a vowel, gluing the two words together.
Example
les amis → lay-za-MEE — the friends; vous êtes → voo-zet — you are.
Elision
Examiner keyword
Dropping the final vowel of a short word before another vowel and replacing it with an apostrophe. Compulsory in writing.
Example
le + ami → l'ami (the friend); je + ai → j'ai (I have).
Nasal vowel
Examiner keyword
A vowel followed by m or n closing a syllable, where air passes through the nose and the m/n is not fully pronounced.
Example
bon (on), grand (an), vin (in), un (un). A doubled n cancels it: bonne (clear n).
Silent final consonant
Most consonants at the end of a French word are not pronounced; the word sounds shorter than it looks.
Example
Paris (pa-REE); petit (puh-TEE). Memory aid: CaReFuL (c, r, f, l) often stay sounded.
u /y/ vs ou /u/
Two distinct vowels: u is 'ee' with rounded lips (a sound English lacks); ou is a plain 'oo'. Mixing them changes words.
Example
tu (tew) — you, informal; tout (too) — all/everything.

Common Mistakes and Misconceptions — The French alphabet, accents and pronunciation rules

The traps other students keep falling into on the french alphabet, accents and pronunciation rules questions — taken from recent Cambridge IGCSE 0520 examiner reports and mark schemes — and how to avoid them.

✕Leaving accents off when writing (café written as cafe, où as ou)
Cambridge 0520 Examiner Reports — Paper 4 (Writing), accuracy
Why it happens
English has no accents, so beginners treat them as optional decoration.
How to avoid it
Treat an accent as part of the spelling, like a letter. Learn high-frequency accented words by heart (café, élève, père, français, à, où) and double-check them in every written answer.
✕Using an English r and missing the French u sound
Cambridge 0520 Examiner Reports — Paper 3 (Speaking), pronunciation
Why it happens
These sounds don't exist in English, so the brain substitutes the nearest English sound.
How to avoid it
Drill the throaty r (merci, rouge, Paris) and the rounded-lip u (tu, salut, rue) in isolation daily. Practise the minimal pair tu /y/ vs tout /u/ until you can both say and hear the difference.
✕Pronouncing a hard English 'n' in nasal vowels (bon said as 'bonn')
Cambridge 0520 Examiner Reports — Paper 3 (Speaking)
Why it happens
Beginners read the n as a normal consonant instead of letting it nasalise the vowel.
How to avoid it
Let the n disappear into the nose — say the vowel and stop short of the n. Remember a single n nasalises (bon) but a doubled n is pronounced clearly (bonne), so the two sound different.
✕Forgetting liaison and elision (saying 'le ami' or writing 'je ai')
Cambridge 0520 Examiner Reports — Papers 3 & 4
Why it happens
English keeps words separate, so learners don't link or contract them.
How to avoid it
In writing, always contract before a vowel (j'ai, l'école, qu'il). In speech, link a silent final consonant onto a following vowel: les‿amis (lay-za-MEE).
✕Pronouncing silent final consonants (saying the s in Paris or the t in petit)
Cambridge 0520 Examiner Reports — Paper 3 (Speaking)
Why it happens
Learners read every letter, as in English.
How to avoid it
Apply the rule: final consonants are usually silent (Paris → pa-REE). Keep only the CaReFuL set (c, r, f, l), e.g. avec, bonjour, neuf, avril, and any consonant followed by a final -e.
✕Using English letter names when spelling aloud
Cambridge 0520 Examiner Reports — Paper 3 (Speaking)
Why it happens
Candidates default to the alphabet they learned as children.
How to avoid it
Learn the French letter names, especially the traps: i ('ee'), e ('uh'), g ('zhay'), j ('zhee'), r ('air'), u (the /y/ sound), w ('double vé'), y ('i grec').

Past paper style quiz

Get a report showing which sub-topics you've nailed and which ones still need work.

Letter

French name

Sounds like

Note

"uh" (euh)

Not "ee" as in English

gé

"zhay"

Soft 'j' sound

hache

"ash"

The letter 'h' is always silent in words

"ee"

This catches everyone out

"zhee"

The reverse of English g/j

erre

"air"

Throaty French r

the French u sound

See the vowels section

double vé

"doo-bluh-vay"

Literally "double v"

i grec

"ee-grek"

Literally "Greek i"

Accent

French name

Looks like

What it does

Acute

accent aigu

Only ever on e. Makes a closed "ay" sound: café (ka-FAY) — coffee/café

Grave

accent grave

è à ù

On e opens it to "eh" (mère — mother). On a and u it changes meaning, not sound

Circumflex

accent circonflexe

ê â î ô û

Often marks a lost old 's'; can lengthen/open the vowel: forêt (fo-REH) — forest

Diaeresis

tréma

ë ï ü

Means "pronounce this vowel separately": Noël (no-EL) — Christmas

Cedilla

cédille

Only ever under c. Forces a soft "s" sound before a, o, u: français (fron-SEH) — French

Written

Said

English

Paris

pa-REE

Paris

petit

puh-TEE

small

grand

gron

big/tall

trois

trwa

three

vous

voo

you (formal/plural)

beaucoup

bo-KOO

a lot

Phrase

Without liaison (wrong)

With liaison (correct)

English

les amis

lay … a-MEE

lay-za-MEE

the friends

un enfant

uhn … on-FON

uh-non-FON

a child

vous êtes

voo … et

voo-zet

you are

nous avons

noo … a-VON

noo-za-VON

we have

Spelling

Plain-English hint

IPA

Example

English

on / om

like "song" without the hard g

/ɔ̃/

bon (bon)

good

an / am / en / em

like "aunt" through the nose

/ɑ̃/

grand (gron)

big

in / im / ain / ein

like a nasal "an" in "bank"

/ɛ̃/

vin (van)

wine

un / um

similar to in, slightly rounder

/œ̃/

un (uhn)

a / one

Two sounds defeat almost every English beginner. They are worth practising on their own because they appear in extremely common words.

Practise on: rouge (roozh — red), merci (mair-SEE — thank you), Paris (pa-REE), bonjour (bon-ZHOOR — hello).
Tip: say the English word "loch" (Scottish) or "Bach", feel where the back of your tongue rises — the French r lives in roughly that spot, but softer and voiced.

The French u (IPA /y/) — a brand-new vowel. English has no /y/ sound. To make it:

Say "ee" (as in see) and hold it.
Keep your tongue exactly where it is.
Now round your lips as if to whistle or say "oo". The result — tongue saying "ee", lips saying "oo" — is the French u.

Practise on: tu (tew — you, informal), salut (sa-LEW — hi/bye), bus (bews — bus), rue (rew — street).

Crucial contrast: u vs ou.

u = the new /y/ sound (lips rounded, tongue forward): tu (tew) — you.
ou = a plain "oo" like English food: tout (too) — all/everything; vous (voo) — you (formal). Mixing these up changes words: tu (you) vs tout (everything); dessus (on top) vs dessous (underneath).

Spelling

Sound

Example

English

"oo" /u/

vous (voo)

you

eau / au

"oh" /o/

eau (oh), chaud (show)

water, hot

ai / ei

"eh" /ɛ/

mais (meh), neige (nezh)

but, snow

eu / œu

"uh" /ø/ /œ/

deux (duh), sœur (sur)

two, sister

"wa" /wa/

moi (mwa), trois (trwa)

me, three

The French alphabet, accents and pronunciation rules

Detailed Notes

What you’ll learn

How it’s examined

1Spell a word aloud using the French alphabet

2Place the correct accents on a sentence

3Decode an unfamiliar word using spelling-to-sound rules

4Fix liaison and elision in a phrase

Accent aigu (é)

Accent grave (è, à, ù)

Accent circonflexe (ê, â, î, ô, û)

Tréma (ë, ï)

Cédille (ç)

Liaison

Elision

Nasal vowel

Silent final consonant

u /y/ vs ou /u/

✕Leaving accents off when writing (café written as cafe, où as ou)

✕Using an English r and missing the French u sound

✕Pronouncing a hard English 'n' in nasal vowels (bon said as 'bonn')

✕Forgetting liaison and elision (saying 'le ami' or writing 'je ai')

✕Pronouncing silent final consonants (saying the s in Paris or the t in petit)

✕Using English letter names when spelling aloud

Past paper style quiz

The French alphabet, accents and pronunciation rules

Detailed Notes

What you’ll learn

How it’s examined

1Spell a word aloud using the French alphabet

2Place the correct accents on a sentence

3Decode an unfamiliar word using spelling-to-sound rules

4Fix liaison and elision in a phrase

Accent aigu (é)

Accent grave (è, à, ù)

Accent circonflexe (ê, â, î, ô, û)

Tréma (ë, ï)

Cédille (ç)

Liaison

Elision

Nasal vowel

Silent final consonant

u /y/ vs ou /u/

✕Leaving accents off when writing (café written as cafe, où as ou)

✕Using an English r and missing the French u sound

✕Pronouncing a hard English 'n' in nasal vowels (bon said as 'bonn')

✕Forgetting liaison and elision (saying 'le ami' or writing 'je ai')

✕Pronouncing silent final consonants (saying the s in Paris or the t in petit)

✕Using English letter names when spelling aloud

Past paper style quiz