the difference between é and è

The difference between é and è

The French "close e" (é) vowel

French has another vowel commonly represented by the letter e. This so-called "close e" is roughly half-way between i and the open e described above.

In the examples below, listen to the difference between the open e of tête and the close e of thé:

tête "head" - open e

té "tea" - close e

The French "open e" (è) vowel

The first is an e sound quite similar to the English e sound that occurs in the word set. This variety of e sound is sometimes called "open e", because to pronounce this sound the mouth is held in a relatively open position (if you repeat the English words seat, set, for example, you'll feel your mouth move from a closed position in the first word to an open position in the second).

Thus open e sound is often represented in the spelling by è— that is, by the letter e with a grave accent (e.g. père, mère), or by ê— a letter e with a circumflex accent (e.g. prêt).

Listen to the e vowel in the following words. Notice also how the -e on the ends of various of these words isn't pronounced.

père "father"

mère "mother"