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A cedilla (cédillein French) is a small hook that goes beneath a letter. In some languages, a cedilla can be used with several letters, but in French, the cedilla is only used with the letter “c”.
In French, when a cedilla is beneath the letter “c”, this indicates that the sound is soft, like an “s”, instead of hard, like a “k”.
Let’s find out why cedillas are necessary in French, and the rules for using them.
Table of Contents
What does a cedilla look like?
What does a cedilla do?
What else indicates a soft “c” sound in French?
Why does the French language need cedillas?
What if I forget to use a cedilla?
Some common French words with cedillas
What does a cedilla look like?
A cedilla looks like a little hook that goes beneath a letter. In French, a cedilla (cédille) is sometimes used with the letter “c”, like so: ç or Ç. This is called c cédille (cedilla “c”).
What does a cedilla do?
In French, a cedilla indicates that a “c” sound is soft (like “s”) rather than hard (like “k”).
For instance, if there wasn’t a cedilla in the word français, it would be pronounced with a hard “c”, sounding like “frankay”. If there wasn’t a cedilla in the word garçon, it would be pronounced with a hard “c”, sounding like “garkon”.
What else indicates a soft “c” sound in French?
In French, if a “c” is followed by certain vowels, it’s typically pronounced with a soft sound (like the letter “s”). These letters are: e,i, and typically y.
You can see examples of this in words like centre, sourcil, and recyclage– not to mention in the word cédilleitself!
But what if a “c”needs to be pronounced as a soft “c” but it’s not followed by one of those letters? That’s where the cedilla comes in.
Why does the French language need cedillas?
There are two main reasons why the cedilla is used in French:
For aesthetic or traditional reasons.
For instance, the soft “c” sound in words like françaisand garçongoes back to these terms’ origins and the French want to preserve them – or at the very least, they’ve gotten used to pronouncing them with a soft “c” sound and want to continue doing it that way.
To maintain a soft “c” sound in verb conjugations.
For instance, commencerhas a soft “c” sound in its infinitive as well as many of its conjugations. This is because the “c” is usually followed by an “e” or “i”. But sometimes, the “c” is followed by a letter that doesn’t automatically make it soft. For example, the present-tense conjugation for nouswould be commencons, pronounced with a hard “c”, like “commenkons”. And so, the cedilla is used to maintain the sound of the verb stem: commençons.
What if I forget to use a cedilla?
One of the best “cheats” for French learners is that when we speak, no one sees it in writing. So if you forget a cedilla when you talk, but you know that the word is pronounced with a soft “c”, no harm done.
But what if you forget to writea cedilla?
Fortunately, it’s most likely that the person you’re writing to will understand anyway. After all, many of these words are very familiar and they’d just assume you’d made a mistake.
In some cases, it may even go unnoticed. For instance, there’s some debate about using diacritical marks in French informal writing. That’s why you might not always see an accent over a capital “E”, even in something like an advertisem*nt. It’s less common to omit a cedilla, but you may come across a common phrase like Ça va written, Ca va, if a person is sending a quick text message, for instance.
That said, in formal and academic writing, it is important to always include the cedilla.
And keep in mind that leaving out the cedilla in informal writing may be okay when others read your writing, but it may not end up so great for you. Neglect cedillas all the time and you may forget to use them when you need to.
So it’s best to just get used to using the cedilla and including it in your French writing.
Some common French words with cedillas
Here’s a list of some common French words that have cedillas. The cedilla may seem like a strange concept, depending on your native language, but as you read this list you’ll probably realize that you’ve been reading and using it in French all along!
- ça
- garçon
- français/française
- façade
- leçon
- reçu
- façon
- commerçant/commerçante
- glaçon
If you want to see some more, here’s a very long list of other French words with a c cédille.
Do you have a favorite French word with a c cédille? Feel free to share it in the comments!
