If you're prepping for DELF, TEF, TCF, AP, GCSE, or A-Level French, accents aren't optional. Graders count every missing or wrong accent as an error. In a 250-word essay, 8-10 accent slips will drop you a full grade band, even if the content is otherwise solid.
This article gives you the shortcuts for every device, ranked by speed, plus the priority list of which accents to drill first.
Why this matters more than learners think
In casual chat with French speakers, missing accents are usually forgiven (or auto-corrected). In exam writing, every accent is a markable item. Three concrete examples:
- DELF B2 written production: the rubric explicitly scores "orthography and grammatical accuracy" as a separate component. Missing accents fall under orthography.
- TEF Canada expression écrite: the marking grid weighs "morphological correctness" heavily. Wrong or missing accents register as morphological errors.
- AP French argumentative essay: the College Board rubric includes "language use" with sub-criteria for spelling and punctuation accuracy.
The fastest way to reclaim 2-4 points on any of these exams is just to type with accents from day one of prep.
The 7 accent marks you need
| Mark | Name | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| é | accent aigu (acute) | café, été, préférer, café, vérité |
| è | accent grave (grave on e) | père, mère, frère, après |
| ê | accent circonflexe (circumflex) | être, fenêtre, hôtel, août |
| à | accent grave (grave on a) | à, là, voilà, déjà |
| ù | accent grave (grave on u) | où (the only common word!) |
| ô | accent circonflexe (on o) | hôtel, tôt, drôle, hôpital |
| ç | cédille (cedilla) | français, garçon, ça, leçon |
| œ | ligature (oe) | cœur, œil, sœur, œuvre |
In practice, é is by far the most common, followed by è, à, and ç. Master those four first.
Mac: the option-key system
macOS uses a clean "dead-key" system. For each accent, you hold a modifier, press a key, then press the letter. The letter inherits the accent.
| Accent | Shortcut | Then press |
|---|---|---|
| é, É | Option + E | e or shift+E |
| è, à, ù | Option + ` (backtick) | e, a, or u |
| ê, â, î, ô, û | Option + I | e, a, i, o, or u |
| ç, Ç | Option + C | (instantly inserted) |
| œ, Œ | Option + Q | (instantly inserted) |
| ï, ü, ë | Option + U | i, u, or e |
Tip: The most common one (é) is the most awkward to type. After about a week of daily use, Option+E becomes reflexive. Worth pushing through the friction.
Windows: the Alt+number system
Windows requires holding Alt and typing a 3- or 4-digit code on the numeric keypad (not the number row). If your keyboard doesn't have a separate numpad (laptops), you'll need NumLock + the embedded numpad letters, or one of the alternative methods below.
| Character | Alt code |
|---|---|
| é | Alt + 0233 |
| É | Alt + 0201 |
| è | Alt + 0232 |
| È | Alt + 0200 |
| ê | Alt + 0234 |
| à | Alt + 0224 |
| â | Alt + 0226 |
| ô | Alt + 0244 |
| ù | Alt + 0249 |
| ç | Alt + 0231 |
| Ç | Alt + 0199 |
| œ | Alt + 0156 |
For laptops without numpad: install the United States-International keyboard layout (Settings → Time & Language → Language → Add a keyboard). Then a quote mark + e gives é, backtick + a gives à, etc. Trade-off: typing a normal quote requires pressing space after it.
iPhone and iPad: long-press
The fastest method on iOS. Hold any vowel or c down, a popup menu appears with the accent variants, slide to the one you want.
- Long-press e → choose è, é, ê, ë
- Long-press a → choose à, á, â, ä, æ
- Long-press c → choose ç
- Long-press o → choose ô, œ, ö, ø
- Long-press u → choose ù, ú, û, ü
Apple's autocorrect on iOS is also generally good at fixing missing accents on common French words if you've added French to your keyboard languages (Settings → General → Keyboard → Keyboards → Add → French).
Android: same long-press behavior
Identical to iOS in concept: long-press a vowel or c and slide to the accent. Gboard (Google's keyboard, default on most Android phones) and Samsung Keyboard both support this.
To enable French autocorrect: Gboard → Languages → Add keyboard → French. You can have both English and French enabled and swap via the globe key.
Web browser shortcut (any device)
If you're typing French in a web form (a TCF practice site, italki, our practice tool) and don't want to learn shortcuts yet, install a browser extension:
- WordReference's French Keyboard extension (Chrome, Firefox)
- Easy Accents for French in Google Docs / Gmail
Long-term, learning the OS-level shortcuts is faster than a browser extension, but extensions are a useful crutch while you're building muscle memory.
Priority drill: type these 20 words daily
Once you've picked your method, drill the highest-frequency accented words until they flow without thought. This list covers maybe 60% of the accents you'll need in any DELF or TEF writing task:
| Word | English |
|---|---|
| être | to be |
| déjà | already |
| après | after |
| très | very |
| où | where |
| à | to / at |
| ça | that / it |
| français | French |
| écrire | to write |
| préférer | to prefer |
| différent | different |
| frère | brother |
| mère | mother |
| père | father |
| école | school |
| espérer | to hope |
| généralement | generally |
| évidemment | obviously |
| problème | problem |
| système | system |
Five minutes a day of typing these (with the right accents) for two weeks, and your fingers stop missing the keys.
The two accent mistakes that hurt the most on exams
1. a vs à
Je vais à Paris, not je vais a Paris. The bare a is the verb (il a un livre). The accented à is the preposition (to, at). Same for ou (or) vs où (where), and du (of the) vs dû (past participle of devoir).
2. é vs è on common verb forms
Préférer changes its accent in different conjugations: je préfère (è in stressed syllables), nous préférons (é in unstressed). This shows up on every B1+ exam. Don't memorize the rule; drill the conjugations until the pattern is automatic. Bonjour Verbs conjugates préférer fully if you want the full table to reference.
Tool recommendation
If you're prepping for an exam and want to practice typing with accents in context, Bonjour Verbs drills typed-answer verb conjugation with strict accent checking. Miss an accent and you get the specific "check your accents" feedback message, so you train the muscle memory rather than just the meaning. Free, offline, no signup.
For exam-specific drills with the right verb scope, see the DELF, TEF Canada, or AP French prep guides.