Why was the capital C of Ça accented ? I was taught in French France the capital letters are not accented but are in Canadian French.

Vicky G.C1Kwiziq community member

Why was the capital C of Ça accented ? I was taught in French France the capital letters are not accented but are in Canadian French.

Is this a Canadian French course? I want to be confident I'm learning French as used in France.

Asked 5 years ago
CécileNative French expert teacher in KwiziqCorrect answer

Hi Vicky,

There may be a tendency not to use accents on capital letters at the beginning of a sentence but that would never happen with a 'cedilla' which is the case of Ça as it would change the word.

Below is the rule given by the Académie française supporting the use of accents on capitals for various reasons. It might also be a very good reading exercise -

"On ne peut que déplorer que l’usage des accents sur les majuscules soit flottant. On observe dans les textes manuscrits une tendance certaine à l’omission des accents. En typographie, parfois, certains suppriment tous les accents sur les capitales sous prétexte de modernisme, en fait pour réduire les frais de composition.

Il convient cependant d’observer qu’en français, l’accent a pleine valeur orthographique. Son absence ralentit la lecture, fait hésiter sur la prononciation, et peut même induire en erreur. Il en va de même pour le tréma et la cédille.

On veille donc, en bonne typographie, à utiliser systématiquement les capitales accentuées, y compris la préposition À, comme le font bien sûr tous les dictionnaires, à commencer par le Dictionnaire de l’Académie française, ou les grammaires, comme Le Bon Usage de Grevisse, mais aussi l’Imprimerie nationale, la Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, etc. Quant aux textes manuscrits ou dactylographiés, il est évident que leurs auteurs, dans un souci de clarté et de correction, auraient tout intérêt à suivre également cette règle."

 

Nadine M.C1Kwiziq community member

Vicky, you can be sure that this course is in French French, not Canadian French.  There's a big difference between the two in pronunciation, but not so much in writing.  These French speakers on lawlessfrench.com speak a most beautiful, perfect French.

Why was the capital C of Ça accented ? I was taught in French France the capital letters are not accented but are in Canadian French.

Is this a Canadian French course? I want to be confident I'm learning French as used in France.

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