You'll need the accents to do your homework, write e-mail and work on the web.

You already have the French Keyboard installed on your laptop.

On the status bar on the lower righthand side of your screen,
you can see a small square with En inside.
That means that you are using the English keyboard.
To change to the French keyboard, press the Alt key on the left hand side of the space bar
and hold it down while you press the Shiftkey (either Shift key will work).
Do this until the letters Fr appear in the square.
The French keyboard is now in place.
 

Now, where are the accents and how do you make them work?

First of all, all the letters, A-Z are still in the same place. They don't change.

é            bottom row of keys (ends with M), last key on the right,
              just before the Shift key.
              Just press the key. It gives you é.

à            the key on the far right of the TAB ROW gives you à
             Just press the key.

è           the key on the far right of the CAPS LOCK ROW (just before ENTER)
             gives you è.
             Just press the key.

Ç, ç      the key two over from 'P' in the TAB ROW gives you ç
            Just press the key.

â, ê, î, ô, û
           The circumflex is used over all the vowels.
           You will find it on the TAB ROW (ends with P),
           just to the right of the letter P.
           First press the accent key. You won't see anything on the screen.
           Next press the key to get the vowel you want.
           The letter will appear with the circumflex over it.

ï, ë     The two dots are called a tréma. In French it indicates that when
         there are two vowels together, they are pronounced separately.
         It is on the same key as the circumflex, and to get it you must press
         Shift at the same time as the accent key. Nothing will appear on your
         screen. Then press the key to get the vowel you want.
         The letter will appear with the tréma over it.
         Some examples : Noël  (Christmas)
                                      maïs   (corn)

ù      press right alt and the key to the right of P.  Nothing will appear on your screen.
        Now press the letter U and it will appear with a grave accent over it.

???   One other important thing.       The question mark is now Shift + 6!
 

Where's the apostrophe???                       Shift + , (on top of the comma)
Where are the quotation marks???          Left  Shift + . (on top of the period)
                           It all makes perfect sense, no?
 

Get a keyboard map from your professor if you don't have one,
or click here to go to the page you can print out yourself.

Start practising. 
 
 


 

Installing the French Keyboard on your laptop

Close what you have opened.

Get a keyboard map from your professor if you don't have one.

Start practising.