Type French Accents and Symbols

So you’re learning French and have plucked up the courage to start creating some of your own written compositions, maybe email friend, show off some of your new skills to your friends on Facebook or maybe you just want to type some French.

You might have noticed that your English keyboard is not equipped to type all the little French accents and symbols. Luckily there are a couple of ways around this problem – French accent codes!

Alt and Option Codes

These codes are entered where ever you want to use a particular accented French letter. They can be extremely handy and are displayed in the tables below. You can download your printable copy of French Accent Codes and use it anywhere.

Alt Codes for Windows

To type the required letter in Windows you just place your cursor in the spot you need the letter then hold down the Alt key (near the space bar), whilst holding the Alt key down you type the numbers that correspond to accented letter you want. I find it best to use the number pad on your keyboard, just make sure the “NumLock” is on.

For example, if you want to type the French word for very (tres) with the accent it would work like this.

Type the letters “tr” as usual
Then straight after the r and without adding a space, hold down the Alt Key and type the numbers 0232
Type the letter s as usual
All of this is done without adding extra spaces and your “tres” should now look like très.

Each of the Alt Code Tables below contains various French letters with accents and underneath, the Alt codes you need to type them. Remember to hold down the Alt key while you type the numbers.

À	Â	Ä	à	â	ä
Alt 0192	Alt 0194	Alt 0196	Alt 0224	Alt 0226	Alt 0228

È	É	Ê	Ë
Alt 0200	Alt 0201	Alt 0202	Alt 0203

è	é	ê	ë
Alt 0232	Alt 0233	Alt 0234	Alt 0235

Î	Ï	î	ï
Alt 0206	Alt 0207	Alt 0238	Alt 0239

Ô	ô	Œ	œ
Alt 0212	Alt 0244	Alt 0140	Alt 0156

Ù	Û	Ü	ù	û	ü
Alt 0217	Alt 0219	Alt 0220	Alt 0249	Alt 0251	Alt 0252

Ç	ç	«	»	€
Alt 0199	Alt 0231	Alt 0171	Alt 0187	Alt 0128

Option Codes for Macs

The codes for Mac computers are a little different. The use of the Option key allows you type accents. You simply type the vowel after it.

Here is how it works;
If you hold down the option key and E at the same time the computer knows you want to put an accent acute above the next key you type. So if you type an “a” after you get á. It works the same if you type an “e” or “u” after, you hold down option and E because they mean accent acute.

The table below give a brief description of how you can type French accents on your Mac computer.

Accent	Instructions
Acute	Hold down Option key and E key, type vowel
Grave	Hold down Option key and ` key, type vowel
Circumflex	Hold down Option key and I key, type vowel
Tremor	Hold down Option key and U key, type vowel

French symbols typed on a Mac computer are like this;

ç – Type Option and C key
Ç – Type Shift Option and C key
« – Type Option and \ key
» – Type Shift and Option and \ key
€ – Type Shift and Option 2 key

If you find you need more information or would like to write French accents and symbols in HTML, I found this site about symbols and codes particularly helpful.

Printable French Accent Codes

The Spell and Sound Resources page has a PDF version of Alt and Option codes you can save and print as you need them. Follow the link to our downloads page and start using our accent codes straight away.

French Keyboards

If you plan on typing a lot of French then you might want to switch over to a French Keyboard. If you’re worried about forking out for a new keyboard, or use a laptop with a fixed keyboard, you can still install the French Keyboard to work over the top of your English one. A print out of how the French keyboard is displayed can help you find the key you need.

Here are some links to sites with easy to follow instructions regarding the installation of French Keyboards on Windows and Mac computers.

Install French Keyboard for Windows
For Windows 8 with pictures
Install French Keyboard for Macs with pictures