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6 Writing system
French is written using the Latin alphabet, plus five diacritics (the circumflex accent, acute accent, grave accent, diaeresis, and cedilla) and two ligatures (æ, œ).
Spelling corresponds only weakly to pronunciation; in general, the written form is more conservative than the spoken form. This is mainly due to extreme phonetic changes since the Old French period, without a corresponding change in spelling. However, some conscious changes were also made to restore Latin orthography:
- Old French doit > French doigt "finger" (Latin digitum)
- Old French pie > French pied "foot" (Latin pedem)
As a result, it is nearly impossible to predict the spelling based on the sound alone. Final consonants are silent more often than not. For example, all these words end in a vowel sound: nez, doigt, pied, aller, les, lit, beaux.
On the other hand, it's very generally possible to predict the sound based on the spelling.
The diacritics have phonetic, semantic, and etymological significance.
- grave accent (à, è, ù): Over a or u, used only to distinguish homophones: à ("to") vs. a ("has"), ou ("or") vs. où ("where"). Over an e, indicates the sound /ε/.
- acute accent (é): Over an e, indicates the sound /e/. Often indicates the historical deletion of a following consonant (usually an s): écouter < escouter.
- circumflex (â, ê, î, ô û): Over an e or o, indicates the sound /ε/ or /o/, respectively. Most often indicates the historical deletion of an adjacent letter (usually an s or a vowel): château < castel, fête < feste, sûr < seur, dîner < disner. By extension, it has also come to be used to distinguish homophones: du ("of the") vs. dû (past participle of devoir "to owe"; note that dû is in fact written thus because of a dropped e: deu).
- diaeresis or tréma (ë, ï): Indicates that a vowel is to be pronounced separately from the preceding one: naïve, Noël. Diaeresis on ÿ only occurs in some proper names (such as l'Haÿ-les-Roses) and in modern editions of old French texts.
- cedilla (ç): Indicates that an etymological c is pronounced /s/ when it would otherwise be pronounced /k/. Thus je lance "I throw" (with c = [s] before e), je lançai "I threw" (c would be pronounced [k] before a without the cedilla).
The ligatures æ and œ are a mandatory contraction of ae and oe in certain words (sœur "sister" /sœʁ/, œuvre "work [of art]" /œvʁ/, cœur "heart" /kœʁ/, cœlacanthe "Coelacanth" /selakɑ̃t/), sometimes in words of Greek origin, spelled with an οι /oj/ diphtong which became oe in Latin, pronounced /e/ in French (and other Romance languages): œsophage /ezɔfaʒ/, œnologie /enɔlɔʒi/. It may also appear in œu digraph (or œ alone in œil "eye"), in words that were once written with eu digraph (which could be read /y/ or /œ/, depending on the word): bœuf "ox" /bœf/ (Old French buef or beuf), mœurs /mœʁ/ "custom", œil "eye" /œj/, etc. In these cases, Latin etymon must be spelled with an o where the French word has œu: bovem > bœuf, mores > mœurs, oculum > œil.
Some attempts have been made to reform French spelling, but few major changes have been made over the last two centuries.
6.1 Some common phrases
- French: français /fʁɑ̃ sɛ/ ("fran-seh")
- hello: bonjour /bɔ̃ ʒuʁ/ ("bon-zhoor")
- My name is: Je m'appelle ("zjem-ap-pelle")
- good-bye: au revoir /o ʁə vwaʁ/ ("o-ruh-vwar")
- please: s'il vous plaît /sil vu plɛ/ ("sill voo pleh")
- thank you: merci /mɛʁ si/ ("mairr-see")
- you're welcome: de rien /də ʁjɛ̃/ ("duh ryeh"), je vous en prie, pas de quoi (France); bienvenue /bjɛ̃v(ə) ny/ ("byeh-venuh") (Quebec)
- that one: celui-là /səlɥi la/ ("sull-wee la"), colloq. /sɥi la/ ("swee la"), or celle-là (feminine) /sɛl la/ ("cell-la")
- how much?: combien /kɔ̃ bjɛ̃/ ("kom-byen")
- English: anglais /ɑ̃ glɛ/ ("ahng-gleh")
- yes: oui /wi/ ("wee"), colloq. ouais (seldom written) /wɛ/ ("way")
- no: non /nɔ̃/ ("non")
- I'm sorry: Je suis désolé. /ʒə sɥi de zo le/ ("zhuh swee deh-zo-leh"), colloq. /ʃsɥi de zo le/ ("shswee deh-zo-leh")
- I don't understand: Je ne comprends pas. /ʒə nə kɔ̃ pʁɑ̃ pa/ ("zhuh nuh comprahn pa"), colloq. Je comprends pas /ʃkɔ̃ pʁɑ̃ pa/ (with dropping of "ne") ("shcomprahn pa")
- Where is the toilet?: Où sont les toilettes ? /u sɔ̃ le twa lɛt/ ("oo son leh twa-let")
- Cheers (toast to someone's health): Tchin ("chin"), Santé /sɑ̃ te/("san-teh") or À la vôtre /a la votʁ/ ("a la votr")
- Do you speak English?: Parlez-vous anglais ? /paʁ le vu ɑ̃ glɛ/ ("par-leh voo ang-gleh") OR "Vous parlez anglais ?" /vu paʁ le ɑ̃ glɛ/ ("voo par-leh ang-leh")
