Writing in French: Accents, Sentence Structure, and Common Mistakes

Key takeaways

• French has five accent marks: aigu (é), grave (è, à, ù), circonflexe (â, ê, î, ô, û), tréma (ë, ï, ü), and cédille (ç). Skipping them is not stylistically acceptable in formal writing and changes the meaning of some words entirely.
• Basic French sentence structure follows subject-verb-object like English, but adverbs go after the conjugated verb, not at the end of the sentence. Je parle souvent français, not Je parle français souvent.
• Written French requires ne in negation even though speakers often drop it in conversation. Je ne comprends pas is correct in writing. Je comprends pas is informal speech only.
• The four most common writing errors for English learners: missing accents, adjective agreement mistakes, misplaced adverbs, and confusing c’est with il est in descriptions.

Writing French and speaking French call on different skills. Speech tolerates dropped accents, relaxed negation, and informal word order. Written French, especially formal written French, has stricter conventions.

italki connects you with French teachers who can review your written work and explain not just what is wrong but the logic behind the rule, which is what actually makes the correction stick.

This guide covers the five French accent marks and what they do, French sentence structure including adverb placement and negation, adjective agreement in writing, how French punctuation differs from English, and the most common mistakes to eliminate first.

French accent marks: what each one does

French has five accent marks. None of them is decorative.

Accent aigu (´): only on the letter e Pronunciation: /e/ as in café. Example: écrire, étudier, légume. The accent aigu appears on é at the beginning, middle, or end of words and on many past participles (parlé, mangé, allé).

Accent grave (`): on e, a, and u On è: changes pronunciation to /ɛ/ as in père. Examples: père, mère, très, après. On à: distinguishes à (preposition: to, at) from a (verb: has). This pair trips up writers constantly. On ù: only appears in où (where) to distinguish it from ou (or).

Accent circonflexe (^): on a, e, i, o, u Historically marks a dropped letter (forêt from foresta, hôpital from hospital). In modern French it often signals vowel length or distinguishes homophones:

• du (of the) vs. dû (had to)
• sur (on) vs. sûr (certain)
• ou (or) vs. où (where): note this uses accent grave, not circonflexe

Tréma (¨): on e, i, u, and sometimes y Signals that two adjacent vowels are pronounced separately, not as a single sound.

• Noël: the tréma on ë means pronounce both the o and the e separately.
• naïf: the ï means pronounce na-IF, not as nay.
• Haïti: both vowels are pronounced.

Cédille (¸): only under the letter c Changes the c pronunciation from /k/ to /s/ before a, o, or u.

• garçon: without the cédille, garcon would be pronounced with a /k/ sound.
• ça, reçu, façon, français.

Work with a French tutor online to identify which accent marks you consistently forget. Accent errors are usually habit-based, not knowledge-based, so targeted drilling corrects them faster than passive review.

French sentence structure

French basic sentence structure is Subject-Verb-Object (SVO), the same as English. The differences show up in specific cases.

Standard sentence order: Je mange une pomme. (I eat an apple.) SVO: identical to English.

Adverb placement: English places adverbs at the end of a sentence. French places adverbs directly after the conjugated verb.

English	Incorrect French	Correct French
I often speak French.	Je parle français souvent.	Je parle souvent français.
She always eats at noon.	Elle mange à midi toujours.	Elle mange toujours à midi.
He rarely goes out.	Il sort rarement.	Il sort rarement. (same here)

Short adverbs (bien, mal, souvent, toujours, jamais, déjà, encore) go immediately after the conjugated verb or after the auxiliary verb in compound tenses:

• J’ai souvent visité Paris. (I have often visited Paris.)
• Il a bien travaillé. (He worked well.)

Object pronoun placement: French direct and indirect object pronouns go before the verb, not after.

English	Incorrect	Correct
I see him.	Je vois lui.	Je le vois.
She gives it to me.	Elle donne me ça.	Elle me le donne.

Question formation: Formal written French inverts subject and verb:

• Parlez-vous français? (Do you speak French?)
• Avez-vous une réservation? (Do you have a reservation?)

Informal writing uses rising intonation (Vous parlez français?) or est-ce que (Est-ce que vous parlez français?). In formal writing, inversion is the standard.

Negation in written French

French negation uses two parts: ne before the verb and a second element after.

Negation	Meaning	Example
ne…pas	not	Je ne comprends pas.
ne…plus	no longer	Il ne travaille plus ici.
ne…jamais	never	Elle ne ment jamais.
ne…rien	nothing	Je ne vois rien.
ne…personne	nobody	Nous ne connaissons personne.
ne…que	only	Je n’ai que dix euros.
ne…guère	hardly, scarcely	Il ne dort guère.
ne…ni…ni	neither…nor	Je n’ai ni faim ni soif.

The ne drop in speech vs. writing: In casual speech, ne is almost universally dropped: Je comprends pas. In formal writing, the ne is required. Many learners produce written French that reads like transcribed speech because they drop the ne. Keep both parts in all written work.

Negation with infinitives: When negating an infinitive, both parts go before it:

• Ne pas manger tard. (Not to eat late.)
• Essayez de ne pas arriver en retard. (Try not to arrive late.)

For more on French verb forms including reflexive verbs in writing, the guide to French reflexive verbs covers formation and the agreement rules that apply in compound tenses.

Adjective agreement in writing

French adjectives agree in gender (masculine/feminine) and number (singular/plural) with the noun they modify. This is largely invisible in speech because many agreement endings are silent. In writing, the endings are visible and required.

Basic agreement patterns:

Masculine singular	Feminine singular	Masculine plural	Feminine plural
grand	grande	grands	grandes
petit	petite	petits	petites
heureux	heureuse	heureux	heureuses
beau	belle	beaux	belles
nouveau	nouvelle	nouveaux	nouvelles

Adjectives that do not change form: Some adjectives are invariable: marron (brown), orange, sympa (short for sympathique), chic.

Placement rules: Most French adjectives follow the noun: une voiture rouge, un film intéressant. A small group goes before the noun (BAGS adjectives: Beauty, Age, Goodness, Size): un beau tableau, une petite maison, un bon repas, un vieux château.

Agreement in past participles: Past participles used as adjectives agree with the noun:

• une porte fermée (a closed door)
• des fenêtres ouvertes (open windows)

Past participles in passé composé with être agree with the subject:

• Elle est partie. (She left.)
• Ils sont arrivés. (They arrived.)

A private French tutor can scan your writing for agreement patterns and show you which noun-adjective pairs you most often get wrong. Most learners have three or four habitual errors that account for the majority of their mistakes.

C’est vs. il est: a writing trap

English uses it is for both structures. French splits them into two distinct patterns.

C’est introduces or identifies:

• C’est un médecin. (He is a doctor. / He’s a doctor.)
• C’est intéressant. (It is interesting.)
• C’est lui. (It is him.)

Il est / Elle est describes a characteristic or profession (without article):

• Il est médecin. (He is a doctor. Used without un.)
• Elle est grande. (She is tall.)
• Il est français. (He is French.)

The rule: when a noun follows, use c’est + article + noun. When an adjective or profession (without article) follows, use il est / elle est.

Common error: C’est médecin is wrong. Use either C’est un médecin or Il est médecin.

French punctuation that differs from English

Rule	French	English equivalent
Space before : ; ? !	Oui, un espace	No space before these marks
Quotation marks	« guillemets »	quotation marks
Decimal	3,14 (comma)	3.14 (period)
Thousands separator	1 000 (space)	1,000 (comma)
Ellipsis	… (three dots)	… (same)
Dash in dialogue	– (tiret)	no exact equivalent

The most frequent punctuation error: writing Bonjour! without a space before the exclamation mark is incorrect in formal French. Formal writing requires a non-breaking space before ?, !, :, and ;. In digital writing, a regular space is accepted, but the absence of any space is incorrect.

Common writing errors and how to fix them

Error	Example of mistake	Correct form
Missing accent on past participle	J’ai mange.	J’ai mangé.
Dropping ne in writing	Je comprends pas.	Je ne comprends pas.
Misplaced adverb	Je parle bien français souvent.	Je parle souvent bien français.
Using c’est with adjective + noun without article	C’est médecin compétent.	C’est un médecin compétent.
Agreement error	Une robe blanc.	Une robe blanche.
à vs a confusion	Il a Paris.	Il est à Paris.
ou vs où confusion	Ou est-il?	Où est-il?
du vs dû	J’ai du partir tôt.	J’ai dû partir tôt.

Work with a French teacher on your writing

Grammar knowledge and writing fluency are not the same thing. You can know the rules for adjective agreement and still get them wrong when writing quickly. The rules become automatic only through practice with correction, and the current-batch guide to French writing practice gives exercises for turning those rules into habit.

italki has 30,000+ expert tutors trusted by over 10 million learners worldwide. A French teacher can review writing you actually produce, identify your top recurring errors, and run targeted exercises on exactly those patterns. Book a trial lesson and get feedback on a real piece of your French writing.

FAQ

Do I need to use accents when writing French on a phone or computer?

Yes, in all formal and semi-formal contexts. Missing accents changes meaning in some cases (a vs. à, ou vs. où, du vs. dû) and signals carelessness in others. Phones have accent keys in the long-press options. Computers have keyboard shortcuts or accent input menus.

What is the easiest way to remember French adjective agreement?

Read aloud. French speakers produce agreement endings automatically because they have heard the patterns thousands of times. When you read your own writing aloud, agreement errors often sound wrong even before you consciously identify them. Pairing reading aloud with grammar correction is faster than drilling tables.

Is there a difference between formal and informal written French?

Yes, significantly. Informal written French (text messages, casual emails, social media) accepts dropped ne, informal vocabulary, and abbreviations like pk (pourquoi) and c’est for c’est. Formal written French (professional emails, academic writing, official correspondence) requires full negation, formal register, subjunctive where appropriate, and proper punctuation. The line is context-dependent, but when in doubt, write more formally.

Why does French have so many silent letters in writing?

French spelling reflects earlier pronunciation. Many letters that were once pronounced became silent as the spoken language evolved while spelling was standardized. This means French spelling preserves historical forms. It is the main reason dictation is so effective: you are learning the gap between what the language sounds like now and what its written form records.