French keyboard online

Accents are marks, not decoration

In TCF Canada, Expression écrite is judged partly on spelling and conventions. A marker reads ecrire as a misspelling of écrire, not as the same word typed quickly. Over a 150-word answer those add up into a band — and on the TCF Canada score chart a single band is often the difference between one NCLC level and the next.

The quickest fix is to stop clicking and learn the pairs. Four of them — e', e`, a` and c, — cover most of what you will type.

Using this as a TCF keyboard

TCF Canada is computer-based, and the three Expression écrite tasks have hard word limits: 60–120, 120–150 and 120–180. Pick the tâche above and the counter tells you when you are inside the band — being under the minimum is what costs marks, so it is flagged separately from going over.

Accounts differ on what the exam machine gives you — some candidates report a French layout, others an English QWERTY with accents inserted through the exam software. Ask your own centre. Either way you will be inserting accents under a clock on test day, and that is the part worth rehearsing. Rehearsing it against a marked answer is the next step: TCF Canada practice runs the same three tâches under the real timer and scores what you wrote.

Using it as a TEF keyboard

The accents are identical for TEF Canada, DELF and DALF — é è ê ë à â ç î ï ô ù û ü œ æ, plus the guillemets « » that French uses instead of quotation marks. Only the word counts above are TCF-specific; ignore them and the keyboard works for any French writing task. Our other free score charts and calculators are English-exam tools, so this is the one to bookmark for French.

Questions

How do I type é on a QWERTY keyboard?

Type the letter e followed by an apostrophe and this tool turns the pair into é as you type. You can also click the é button. The same works for è (e then a backtick), ê (e then a caret) and ë (e then a double quote).

Do accents matter in the TCF writing test?

Yes. Expression écrite is marked partly on spelling and conventions, and a missing accent is a spelling error. écrire and ecrire are not the same word to a marker.

What keyboard do I get in the TCF Canada exam?

Reports differ: some candidates describe a French layout, others an English QWERTY with accents inserted through the exam software. Check with your own test centre. Either way you will be inserting accents on test day, which is the thing worth practising.

Why can't I type oe to get œ?

Because oe appears in ordinary French words — coefficient, moelleux, coexister. A shortcut would silently rewrite moelle to mœlle while you watched. œ and æ are click-only for that reason; every typing shortcut here uses a letter followed by punctuation, which never occurs mid-word.

Is anything I type saved or sent anywhere?

No. The tool runs entirely in your browser. Nothing is transmitted, stored or logged, and there is no sign-up.

Does it work for TEF Canada and DELF too?

Yes. The accents are identical in any French exam. The word counts shown are the TCF Canada Expression écrite limits; ignore them if you are preparing for something else.