French alphabet
Categories: Latin-derived alphabets
The French alphabet is based on the Latin alphabet. It uses the standard 26 letters:
| Letter | Letter name (IPA) |
| A | /a/ |
| B | /be/ |
| C | /se/ |
| D | /de/ |
| E | /ø/ |
| F | /ɛf/ |
| G | /ʒə/ |
| H | /aʃ/ |
| I | /i/ |
| J | /ʒi/ |
| K | /ka/ |
| L | /ɛl/ |
| M | /ɛm/ |
| N | /ɛn/ |
| O | /o/ |
| P | /pe/ |
| Q | /ky/ |
| R | /ɛʁ/ |
| S | /ɛs/ |
| T | /te/ |
| U | /y/ |
| V | /ve/ |
| W | /dublə ve/ (double-V) |
| X | /iks/ |
| Y | /igʁɛk/ (I-grec) |
| Z | /zɛd/ (zède) |
Special ligatures exist for some words:
Œ (œil, fœtus, bœuf...)
Æ (et cætera, tænia, ex æquo...)
Notes:
- 'W' is rarely used except in loan words or regional words, 'ou' is used to represent the /w/ sound;
- vowels are A, E, I, O, U, sometimes Y;
- semi-vowels are Y, rarely W (except regionally, for instance in Belgium);
- usual diacritic marks are acute ( ´ ), grave ( ` ), circumflex ( ˆ ), diaeresis (called tréma in French) ( ¨ ), and the cedilla ( ¸ ). The most frequent combinations are: à â ç é è ê ë î ï ô û ù ü. Diacritics have no impact on alphabetical order.
[edit]