How to type French
The French layout is AZERTY: A and Q trade places with an English keyboard, so do Z and W, and M sits on the ; key. Without Shift, the number row types & é " ' ( and the other symbols; the digits need Shift, so 1 is Shift + 1.
The common accented letters have their own keys: é on 2, è on 7, ç on 9, à on 0 and ù on '. For the circumflex, press the ^ key ([) and then the vowel: ^ then e gives ê. The diaeresis is Shift + that key: ¨ then i gives ï.
Two gaps surprise people: the standard French layout has no way to type the capital É, and no œ. Caps Lock with é gives 2, not É. Pick Canadian French in the Layout menu, where É is Shift + /.
@ is AltGr + 0, # is AltGr + 3 and € is AltGr + E.
French letters and their keys
| Letter | Unicode name | Key |
|---|---|---|
| à | a with grave | the à key (US 0) |
| â | a with circumflex | ^ then a |
| ç | c with cedilla | the ç key (US 9) |
| é | e with acute | the é key (US 2) |
| è | e with grave | the è key (US 7) |
| ê | e with circumflex | ^ then e |
| ë | e with diaeresis | ¨ then e |
| î | i with circumflex | ^ then i |
| ï | i with diaeresis | ¨ then i |
| ô | o with circumflex | ^ then o |
| ù | u with grave | the ù key (US ') |
| û | u with circumflex | ^ then u |
| ü | u with diaeresis | ¨ then u |
| ÿ | y with diaeresis | ¨ then y |
Accent and AltGr keys
| Key | What it does |
|---|---|
| ` | dead key: AltGr + è |
| ^ | dead key: its own key (US [) |
| ¨ | dead key: Shift + ^ |
| ~ | dead key: AltGr + é |
| AltGr | ~ # { [ | ` \ ^ @ ] } € ¤ |
Layouts on this page
- French (default)
- Canadian French
- Belgian French
- Swiss French
Guides
More keyboards
Layout data: CLDR release-43 keyboards/windows/fr-t-k0-windows.xml; CLDR release-43 keyboards/windows/fr-CA-t-k0-windows-var.xml; CLDR release-43 keyboards/windows/fr-BE-t-k0-windows.xml; CLDR release-43 keyboards/windows/fr-CH-t-k0-windows.xml. Letter list: CLDR release-43 (fr). Letter names: Unicode Character Database. What you type stays in your browser.