One accent, two different words, and a test that takes two seconds.
For an English speaker, a looks like the most harmless word there is. In French it is something else: a without an accent is a form of the verb avoir, and à with a grave accent is a preposition meaning at, to or in. They sound identical, so your ear is no help.
A single substitution test sorts out almost every sentence. Below is that test, then the handful of places where learners still slip after they know it.
French has no article spelled a. The English article becomes un or une: a book is un livre, a house is une maison. So when you see a on its own in French, it is one of two words.
The typical learner's mistake is writing a Paris because the letter looks familiar. The accent is what turns it into a different word.
Replace the word with avait, the imperfect of avoir. If the sentence is still grammatical, even if the tense shifts, write a. If it turns into nonsense, write à.
| Sentence | With avait | Write |
|---|---|---|
| Marie … un chat. | Marie avait un chat: correct | a |
| Nous allons … Lyon. | Nous allons avait Lyon: nonsense | à |
| Il … plu toute la nuit. | Il avait plu toute la nuit: correct | a |
| C'est … toi de jouer. | C'est avait toi de jouer: nonsense | à |
| Il y … deux ans. | Il y avait deux ans: correct | a |
The rule page on a or à in French has more examples and a short quiz to check yourself.
In the passé composé, the test turns il a mangé into il avait mangé: he had eaten instead of he ate. Learners often decide the test failed because the meaning moved. It did not. The test checks grammar, and a sentence that stays grammatical with avait needs a.
The same goes for il y a, which means both there is and ago: il y a un problème, il y a trois jours. It becomes il y avait, so it never takes an accent. The pair et or est works the same way, with était as the test word.
When a verb in the infinitive follows, the word in front of it is almost always à. English often says to, or nothing at all, which is why the accent gets dropped.
The last one hides both words: elle a du mal à dormir, she has trouble sleeping. Test each one separately: elle avait du mal à dormir. The first becomes avait, the second cannot.
This is the mistake the avait test cannot catch, because it happens after you have picked the right word. When à meets the article le or les, the two merge.
The merge only happens with articles. When le or les is an object pronoun in front of a verb, nothing changes: je commence à le comprendre, I am starting to understand him.
A capital letter keeps its accent: À bientôt, À demain. The Académie française recommends accents on capitals; writing A bientôt is a habit left over from keyboards that could not produce the letter.
On other layouts, look up the dead key for the grave accent in your keyboard settings. The guide to French accents covers the other letters that take one.
One exception that is not really one: in a question with inversion, A-t-il fini ? has no accent, because it is the verb. Test it: avait-il fini ?
Some expressions are built on à and never change. Learning them whole is faster than testing them each time: à bientôt, à demain, à peu près (about), à cause de (because of), à côté de (next to), peu à peu (little by little).
| Sentence | Right form | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Il … vingt ans. | a | il avait vingt ans: he was twenty |
| Ce vélo est … mon frère. | à | belonging: avait makes no sense |
| Elle … fini … temps. | a, à | elle avait fini, then à temps (on time) |
| Je pense … toi. | à | penser à: avait makes no sense |
| … demain ! | À | fixed phrase, the capital keeps its accent |
If avait fits, write a; if it does not, write à, and keep the accent on the capital. The test becomes automatic once you have used it in real sentences, which is what dictation is for: Apostrophe· reads you French sentences and marks each missing accent word by word, so you see where the habit is still weak.
Is a ever an article in French?
No. The English article a is un or une in French. On its own, a is always the verb avoir: il a, elle a.
Why is there no accent in il y a?
Because a is the verb avoir. In the past it becomes il y avait, which proves it. That holds whether il y a means there is or ago.
Do French capitals keep their accents?
Yes. The Académie française recommends it, and À bientôt is the correct spelling. Dropping the accent on capitals is an old keyboard habit, not a rule.
Is it à le or au?
When le is the article, always au: au cinéma, au travail. When le is a pronoun before a verb, it stays separate: je commence à le comprendre.
What does à mean in English?
It depends on the sentence: at, to, in, or nothing at all. À Paris is in Paris, à midi is at noon, and une machine à laver is a washing machine.
Apostrophe· reads you a sentence, corrects it word by word, and explains the exact rule behind each mistake.
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