French accents - part 4 (French Essentials Lesson 20)

Bonjour! Today let's have a look at another accent I'm going to cover with you La Cédille or Cédille-là. Okay, you're going to tell me what is La Cédille? I've always wondered what La Cédille was. Are you? Okay, or is it just me? Now, La Cédille is a little accent that you find under the C in French. I'm sure you have come across it before. If you're interested in learning French, you must have wondered what is that? And what is its purpose? Well, I'm going to tell you. La Cédille is used for one thing. It is basically always placed before a letter O or U or A. So you will always find it in front of these three vowels. So you have the C and a little 5 underneath. Now, when you see that, and when you see the little 5 underneath, which is called the Cédille-là, you must pronounce that sound S. And that's the purpose of a Cédille-là. If it comes before the O or the U or the A, you must absolutely pronounce S. So that would be SO or SU or SA. That's what the Cédille-là is for. So I think the best way for me is to give you an example. Okay, so a few examples. So have a look at this word here. Okay, now, la leçon means the lesson and it has a Cédille-là. Because if it didn't, it will be le con. And that's another word completely. That's another word. That's the receipt. Again, it has a Cédille-là to make the sound SE. Otherwise, it will be le recul and that's not even a word. I am French. I need the Cédille-là. Otherwise, it will be francaise. And that doesn't mean anything. Okay, here's another word. And that's the boy. Okay, again, it will be garcon and that's not even a word without the Cédille-là. And that's a boxer shorts. Okay, the boxer shorts. Without it, it will be le calcon and that's not a word. Here's another one. Okay, la façade without the Cédille-là would be la facade and that's not a word. Now, la façade is the wall, the front wall of a building. Okay, and you've got it in this word here. Okay, again, without it, it would be cava and that's not a word. Okay, so all these words mean nothing to a French person unless you have the Cédille-là put under the C. Okay, and that's why it is very important to know how to pronounce these words. Remember, the Cédille-là, the little five under the C is a sound. Of course, another way of creating a C sound in French is by using to S instead of a Cédille-là. Okay, but not instead of. You will see some words with double S. Well, I can think of one example, this word, le message, the message. Okay, le message. So sometimes in order to create the C sound, you will have either the Cédille-là or the double S. Okay, of course, if you wanted to make the sound K in front of a O, a U or a A, you would not put the Cédille-là. So you've got words without the Cédille-là, such as l'alcool. This is alcohol. Or you've got another word, école, which is school. As you see, there is no Cédille-là and we say the sound K. Now you have cul-de-sac, cul-de-sac, okay, in English. You know what a cul-de-sac is, yeah? That's a road where you don't have any other roads. Yeah, I'm not sure what the translation for cul-de-sac is. Now you have the word écume, écume, which is the foam or froth, okay? So these words, though they have an O after the C or U or A, they do not have a Cédille-là because we want to make the sound K and not S. Now one thing you need to know about the Cédille-là, okay, and then I'll leave you to it. It is never placed in front of a E or a I. So an E or I, okay, E or I, okay? Because C in front of these two vowels has already the sound C, okay? I know it's confusing, but if you have an E or an I after the C, it's already the sound C. You don't need the Cédille-là for that, okay? So words such as acid, that's acid, okay? Look, you don't need the Cédille-là. It has already the sound C. Words such as décevant, disappointing, okay, décevant, fiancé, fiancé is another one, okay? All these words, and you've got lots, already have the sound C. You do not need a Cédille-là because it comes with an E or an I, okay? So as I said to you, and let's rewind for a minute, okay, only when you have the letter O or A or U. But one thing is very interesting, and I'm going to let you with this thought here, let you, leave you with this thought, is that sometimes the same word can have a Cédille-là or not, but not quite conjugated the same way. So a verb such as recevoir, recevoir, to receive, okay, because it has an E after the C, we say ce, sans, without the Cédille-là. But when you conjugate it, look, conjugate it, look what happens, happens. Je reçois. Now suddenly we're using the same word as such, but conjugated we need to put a Cédille-là, okay? So je reçois has to have a Cédille-là because we're using the C with an O, okay? And that means I receive. Do you understand? There's, I can think of another one as well, remplacer, to replace. Here there is no Cédille-là, is there? No, because it is an E after the C. But look at this, replacing, how we say that? Remplaçant, okay? Remplaçant, here it has a Cédille-là. Why? Because it has an A after the C. I can think of a very nice one. Here's this one. France, France, C, E, France. But then when you say français, French, when you use this adjective, then it has a Cédille-là. Why? Because we have an A after the C. Okay, now this is my lesson on Cédille-là. Please comment if you are unclear about things or clear about things, I don't know. Now I'm going to leave you with this sentence and why don't you read it with me? Le garçon français reçoit un caleçon pour Noël. Le garçon français, the French boy, reçoit, receives, un caleçon, a boxer short pour Noël, for Christmas. And you see, I have made good use of my Cédilles-là. Okay, that's it for me. Why don't you have a look at the other series on accents? Okay, they are really, really important, I'm sure, and very useful to you. And why don't you subscribe to my YouTube channel? Learn French with Alexa, with me, Alexa Polidoro. Okay, that's it for me. Have a look at my website as well, Alexa, learnfrenchwithalexa.com. Au revoir, à bientôt, bisous, bisous, bisous.