How to Type Letters with Accents
« Back to Tech TipsWhile American English doesn’t use too many accents, there are certainly occasions where we all need to address clients or colleagues with an accent in their names (thinking of all those Renée’s out there!) or write words like résumé, fiancée and née. Well, your keyboard’s got you! It can be a little tricky to get these out but with a little practice, you’ll soon mindlessly hit the magic keystrokes as you need them. Here’s how to type letters with accents for both Windows and Mac.
Windows | Mac | |
---|---|---|
Grave Accents (à è ì ò ù)
|
Hold CTRL + Accent Grave tilde (~) key + Letter
|
1. Press Option.
2. Press Grave Accent/Tilde. 3. Release the keys. 4. Type the letter (a, e, i, o, u) you want to add the accent to. If you want uppercase, press Shift before you tap the letter. 2nd method: Pressing and hold down the relevant key. For example, press and hold the A key, a series of options will pop up, select the grave accent. |
Acute Accents (á é í ó ú)
|
Unlike the tip above, for this one do NOT press and hold — strike the keys in quick succession or you will get the apostrophe.
CTRL + Apostrophe (‘) + Letter. |
1. Press Option.
2. Press e. 3. Release the keys. 4. Type the letter you want to add an acute accent mark to. To capitalize, press Shift at the same time you type the letter. 2nd method: Acute accents can also be typed through the press-and-hold method describe above. |
Circumflex Accents (Â Ê Î Ô Û)
|
Tap the keys in quick succession not all at once :
CTRL + SHIFT + Carat (^) + Letter. Note: this results in uppercase letters. To type lowercase letters, hold CTRL + SHIFT + Carat together then release the keys, and then tap the letter you want.
|
1. Press Option.
2. Press i. 3. Release the keys. 4. Type the letter you want to add a circumflex accent to. Press Shift before you type the letter to capitalize it. 2nd method: These accents can also be typed through the press-and-hold method. |
Tilde Accents (Ã Ñ Õ)
|
CTRL + SHIFT + Tilde (~) + Letter.
This works only with the letters A, N, and O. To get lowercase letters type CTRL + SHIFT + Tilde and release them before typing the letter.
|
Note: the tilde can only be added to the letters a, n, and o.
1. Press Option. 2. Press n. 3. Release the keys. 4. Type the letter you want to add a tilde to. To cap the letter, press Shift before pressing the letter key. 2nd method: These accents can also be typed through the press-and-hold method. |
Umlaut Accents (Ä Ë Ï Ö Ü Ÿ) | Tap CTRL + SHIFT + Colon (:) + Letter all together.
To get lowercase letters, release the keys before entering the letter. |
1. Press Option.
2. Press u. 3. Release the keys. 4. Tap the letter you want. To cap the letter, press Shift before typing the letter key. 2nd method: These accents can also be typed through the press-and-hold method. |
Dot Accents (Å å) | CTRL + SHIFT + @ + A or a | You can add a dot above certain letters like A through the press-and-hold method!
|