French typing practice
Touch type in French, free in your browser, with lessons made of everyday French words, Jules Verne and Alphonse Daudet to type, and every accent on an AZERTY, US or UK keyboard.
What you can practise
Smart Lessons in French
Real French words, built around your slowest key. You start on six keys, and French's own letters join as the others come up to speed.
The French alphabet
Every letter in order against the clock, with how to type each French letter on your keyboard.
Typing games in French
Pilot and Spaceship: steer through the gaps or shoot down enemy ships by typing French words.
6 French books
Classic French books, out of copyright, typed a passage at a time.
French letters
French puts an accent in almost every sentence: é in "été" and "café", è in "très", à in "voilà", ç in "ça" and "garçon", and the circumflex in "fête", "hôtel" and "sûr". Add the diaeresis in "Noël" and "maïs" and the ligature œ in "cœur" and "sœur", and that is thirteen letters beyond a to z.
A French keyboard is AZERTY: A and Q swap, Z and W swap, M moves to the right of L, and the digits need Shift. É, è, ç and à sit on the number row and ù to the right of M; the circumflex and the diaeresis share a dead key to the right of P. On a US or UK keyboard, US-International turns `, ', ^ and " into dead keys: ' then e types é, Shift 6 then o types ô, and on Windows AltGr comma types ç.
On a French keyboard
Windows: French (Legacy, AZERTY) · macOS: French · Linux: French
Add it in Windows under Settings > Time & language > Language & region, in macOS under System Settings > Keyboard > Input Sources, in Linux under Settings > Keyboard > Input Sources.
| Letter | Windows | macOS | Linux |
|---|---|---|---|
| à | À | À | À |
| â | ^then A | ^then A | ^then A |
| ç | Ç | Ç | Ç |
| é | É | É | É |
| è | È | È | È |
| ê | ^then E | ^then E | ^then E |
| ë | Shift ^then E | Shift ^then E | Shift ^then E |
| î | ^then I | ^then I | ^then I |
| ï | Shift ^then I | Shift ^then I | Shift ^then I |
| ô | ^then O | ^then O | ^then O |
| œ | Not on this layout | Option O | Not on this layout |
| ù | Ù | Ù | Ù |
| û | ^then U | ^then U | ^then U |
On a US or UK keyboard
Windows: United States-International · macOS: ABC – Extended · Linux: English (US, intl., with dead keys)
Add it the same way. On US-International ' and " become dead keys: type a space after one for the mark itself. Neither Windows layout types œ.
| Letter | Windows | macOS | Linux |
|---|---|---|---|
| à | `then A | Option `then A | `then A |
| â | Shift 6then A | Option 6then A | Shift 6then A |
| ç | AltGr , | Option Cthen C | Shift AltGr 5then C |
| é | 'then E | Option Ethen E | 'then E |
| è | `then E | Option `then E | `then E |
| ê | Shift 6then E | Option 6then E | Shift 6then E |
| ë | Shift 'then E | Option Uthen E | Shift 'then E |
| î | Shift 6then I | Option 6then I | Shift 6then I |
| ï | Shift 'then I | Option Uthen I | Shift 'then I |
| ô | Shift 6then O | Option 6then O | Shift 6then O |
| œ | Not on this layout | Option Q | AltGr K |
| ù | `then U | Option `then U | `then U |
| û | Shift 6then U | Option 6then U | Shift 6then U |
Tips for typing French
The home row starts with Q
On AZERTY the left little finger rests on Q, with A on the key above it, and the right little finger rests on M. If you come from QWERTY, practise words with a, q, z, w and m until the moved keys stop catching you.
Accents on the number row
On Windows and Linux, the unshifted number row types &, é, ", ', (, -, è, _, ç and à; the digits come with Shift. Reach for é with the left ring finger, è with the right index, ç with the right ring and à with the right little finger, the same fingers as 2, 7, 9 and 0.
Press ^, then the vowel
The key to the right of P is a dead key: nothing appears until you type the vowel. Shift on the same key gives the diaeresis for ë and ï. Both are the right little finger, so let it come back to M before the next letter.
Know where œ is
Œ, in "cœur", "sœur" and "œuvre", is Option O on a Mac's French layout and AltGr K on Linux's US-International. Windows' French and US-International layouts have no key for it.