## Hyphens ### Numbers Numbers are joined by hyphens sept cent mille trois cent vingt et un → sept-cent-mille-trois-cent-vingt-et-un (700,321). ### Compound Nouns Hyphenated words that begin with contre- or entre-, are onomatopoeic, are borrowed from foreign languages, or contain one or more words that do not occur independently lose their hyphens altogether. if one element is a verb 1. porte-monnaie → portemonnaie (wallet) In bahuvrihi compounds (where the individual sense of the elements has changed) 1. sage-femme → sagefemme (midwife) In onomatopoeias 1. coin coin → coin-coin (quack). Contre 1. contre-pied → contrepied Loan compounds are also fused together 1. hot-dog → hotdog (hot dog). 2. week-end → weekend 3. tic-tac → tictac ## Plurals Compound nouns joined with hyphens (or fused) make their plural using normal rules, that is adding a final s or x, unless the modifier is an adjective (in which case both elements must agree), or the head is a determined noun, or a proper noun 1. des pèse-lettre → des pèse-lettres (letter scales) 2. des après-midis Loanwords also have a regular plural now | Traditional Singular | Traditional Plural | Reformed Singular | Reformed Plural | | -------------------- | ------------------ | ----------------- | --------------- | | lied | lieder | lied | lieds | | match | matches | match | matchs | | allégro | allégri | allégro | allégros | | pianissimo | pianissimi | pianissimo | pianissimos | | maximum | maxima | maximum | maximums | | scenario | scenarii | scénario | scénarios | | spaghetti | spaghetti | spaghetti | spaghettis | ## Accents ### Le tréma The tréma (known as a diaeresis in English) indicating exceptionally that the u is not silent in gu + vowel combinations is to be placed on the u instead of on the following vowel. Also, trémas are added to such words where they were not previously used aiguë → aigüe `[ɛɡy]` (fem. acute) ambiguïté → ambigüité `[ɑ̃biɡɥite]` (ambiguity) arguer → argüer `[aʁɡɥe]` (to argue) A tréma is also added to a u following an e muet added to soften a g, to prevent the eu combination being read as `[œ]` gageure → gageüre `[ɡaʒyʁ]` (wager) ### L'Accent aigu et l'accent grave Verbs with their infinitive in éCer (where C can be any consonant) change their é to è in the future and conditional je céderai → je cèderai `[ʒə sɛd(ə)ʁe]` (I shall give up) Additionally, verbs ending in e placed before an inverted subject "je" change their e to è instead of é aimé-je ? → aimè-je ? `[ɛmɛʒ]` (do I like?) ### Circumflex Circumflex accents are removed on i and u if they are not needed to distinguish between homographs. They are retained in the simple past and subjunctive of verbs Ex. dû is kept to make the distinction with du | Traditional Spelling | Reformed Spelling | | -------------------- | ----------------- | | boîte | boite | | brûler | bruler | | bûche | buche | | goûter | gouter | | paraître | paraitre | | connaître | connaitre | | piqûre | piqure | | mû | mu | ### Other Wherever accents are missing or wrong because of past errors or omissions or a change of pronunciation, they are added or changed receler → recéler `[ʁəsele]` (to receive – stolen goods) événement → évènement `[evɛn(ə)mɑ̃]` (event) Accents are also added to loanwords where dictated by French pronunciation diesel → diésel `[djezɛl]` (diesel) ### Schwa changing into open e In verbs with an infinitive in -eler or -eter, the opening of the schwa (/ə/ → /ɛ/) could previously be noted either by changing the e to è or by doubling the following l or t, depending on the verb in question. With this reform, only the first rule shall be used except in the cases of appeler, jeter, and their derivatives (which continue to use ll and tt respectively). j'étiquette → j'étiquète (I label) This applies also when those verbs are nominalized using the suffix -ement: amoncellement → amoncèlement (pile) ## Past participle agreement Notwithstanding the normal rules (see French verbs), the past participle laissé followed by an infinitive never agrees with the object: je les ai laissés partir → je les ai laissé partir (I let them go, literally: I have let them go) This is an alleged simplification of the rules governing the agreement as applied to a past participle followed by an infinitive. The participle fait already follows an identical rule. ## Miscellaneous Many phenomena were considered as "anomalies" and thus "corrected". Some families of words from the same root showing inconsistent spellings were made uniform on the model after the most usual word in the family. | Traditional Spelling | Reformed Spelling | Reason | | ------------------------------------- | --------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | absous, dissous, etc. | absout, dissout | To match the feminine absoute, dissoute | | appas | appâts | To match the singular appât | | asseoir, messeoir, rasseoir, surseoir | assoir, messoir, rassoir, sursoir | Simpler spelling | | besicles | bésicles | To match pronunciation /be.zikl/ | | bizuth | bizut | To match pronunciation /bi.zy/<br>(word-final -th is not normally silent: cf. aneth, zénith etc.) | | bonhomie, prudhomie | bonhommie, prudhommie | After homme | | boursoufler | boursouffler | After souffler | | cahute | cahutte | After hutte | | chariot | charriot | After charrue | | chausse-trape | chaussetrappe | After trappe (also new hyphenation rules) | | combatif | combattif | After combattre | | cuissot | cuisseau | Changed to use the more common suffix -eau | | dessiller | déciller | After cil, ciller | | dentellier | dentelier | To match pronunciation /dɑ̃.tə.lje/ | | douceâtre | douçâtre | Simpler spelling | | embatre | embattre | After battre | | eczéma | exéma | After other words beginning ex- /ɛɡz-/ | | ghilde, gilde | guilde | Gallicized spelling | | imbécillité | imbécilité | After imbécile; pronounced with /l/ not /j/ | | innomé | innommé | After nommer | | interpeller | interpeler | After appeler etc.; to match pronunciation /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pə.le/ | | levraut | levreau | Changed to use the more common suffix -eau | | lunettier | lunetier | To match pronunciation /ly.nə.tje/ | | nénuphar | nénufar | Simpler spelling | | oignon | ognon | To match pronunciation /ɔ.ɲɔ̃/ | | pagaïe, pagaye | pagaille | To match pronunciation /pa.ɡaj/<br>(-aïe and -aye are ambiguous renderings; cf. haïe /a.i/ and abbaye /a.bɛ.i/) | | persifler | persiffler | After siffler | | punch | ponch | Gallicized spelling | | prunellier | prunelier | To match pronunciation /pʁy.nə.lje/ | | relais sg or pl | relai sg, relais pl | Older spelling, to distinguish singular and plural | | saccharine | saccarine | Gallicized spelling | | skunks | sconse | Gallicized spelling | | sorgho | sorgo | Gallicized spelling | | sotie | sottie | After sotte | | toquade | tocade | Simpler spelling | | vantail | ventail | After vent, éventail | | bifteck | biftèque | Gallicized spelling |