E with accent: é è ê ë

Type é: Alt + 0233 on Windows, Option+EthenE on a Mac, or hold E on your phone.

Copy the letters

Click a letter to copy it, then paste it with Ctrl + V (Cmd + V on a Mac).

French uses four accented e's. é is by far the most common; è, ê and ë each change how the vowel is pronounced.

Keyboard shortcuts on a U.S. QWERTY keyboard

Mac: standard U.S. or ABC layout. Windows: the free United States-International layout, or an Alt code with any layout.

  • éMacOption+EthenEWindows'thenEAlt codeAlt + 0233
  • èMacOption+`thenEWindows`thenEAlt codeAlt + 0232
  • êMacOption+IthenEWindowsShift+6thenEAlt codeAlt + 0234
  • ëMacOption+UthenEWindowsShift+'thenEAlt codeAlt + 0235
  • ÉMacOption+EthenShift+EWindows'thenShift+EAlt codeAlt + 0201
  • ÈMacOption+`thenShift+EWindows`thenShift+EAlt codeAlt + 0200
  • ÊMacOption+IthenShift+EWindowsShift+6thenShift+EAlt codeAlt + 0202
  • ËMacOption+UthenShift+EWindowsShift+'thenShift+EAlt codeAlt + 0203

Mac

Or press and hold E: a menu of accented versions appears.

Windows

Alt codes need a numeric keypad. Set up US-International.

Phone

Touch and hold E on the keyboard, then slide to the letter you want.

When to use é, è, ê, ë in French

é (acute) sounds like the “ay” in “day”, without the glide. It is the ending of most past participles: parlé (spoken), aimé (loved), and starts many words: école (school), été (summer).

è (grave) is the open sound of “e” in “bet”: très (very), mère (mother), après (after).

ê (circumflex) often marks an “s” that disappeared from the spelling centuries ago, still visible in English: forêt (forest), fête (feast), tête (head, compare “testa” in Latin).

ë (diaeresis) tells you to pronounce the vowel separately from the one before it: Noël is “no-el”, not “nole”.

  • é · café, été
  • è · très, mère
  • ê · fête, forêt
  • ë · Noël
  • É · École, État
  • È · Ève
  • Ê · Être
  • Ë · NOËL

Typing French every day?

The free Chrome extension opens every French accent with Ctrl + Shift + E on any website: no codes to remember.

See the Chrome extension

Frequently asked questions

Hold Alt and type 0233 on the numeric keypad (Num Lock on), then release Alt: é appears. The number row above the letters does not work, so most laptops need another method.

On a U.S. or ABC keyboard, press Option + E, then E. You can also press and hold the E key and pick é from the menu that appears.

Touch and hold the E key on the on-screen keyboard: its accented versions appear above it. Slide to é and release.

Yes. The Académie française recommends keeping accents on capitals (É as in École, État), because they can change the meaning and the pronunciation.