French Keyboard Online — Type in French Free

French Keyboard: Type é, è, à and ç Online

French is written in the Latin alphabet, so most of it looks familiar — until you reach a word like déjà, français or où and the letter you need is nowhere on an English keyboard. This tool loads the French AZERTY layout used on physical keyboards in France and Belgium, so every accented letter sits where a French typist expects. Click the on-screen keys or type on your physical keyboard — the text builds in the box, a live counter tracks its length, and one button copies it out.

AZERTY is not a re-skinned QWERTY. Several letters trade places and the number row works differently, so the accents French spelling depends on get their own keys instead of hiding behind shortcuts.

Try it: Ça va ? — "How's it going?" · à bientôt — "see you soon"

Where French Accents Live on the AZERTY Layout

French leans on five diacritic letters: the acute é, the grave è / à / ù, and the cedilla ç. On AZERTY none are buried under a modifier — four share the top number row and the fifth sits on the home row. Here is where each one is:

é — key 2

On the 2 key, toward the left of the number row. The workhorse accent of French: été, café, déjà.

è — key 7

On the 7 key, just left of the _ key. Used in très, mère, problème.

à — key 0

On the 0 key, toward the right of the number row. The preposition à ("to/at") and words like voilà, là.

ç — key 9

On the 9 key of the number row. The cedilla, needed for français, garçon, ça.

ù — home row

Just right of the M key. It appears in essentially one everyday word — où ("where") — yet AZERTY still gives it a dedicated key.

The circumflex, tréma and ² key

The circumflex ^ and the tréma (diaeresis) ¨ share one key just right of P: tap it for ^, or hold Shift for ¨. Those are the marks that sit over vowels in words like être and Noël. Far top-left you'll also find ² and (with Shift) ³, the superscript numbers French uses for units like m².

How to Type French Text Step by Step

1

Locate your accent keys

The AZERTY board opens ready to use. Note the four accents on the top number row (é è ç à) and ù on the home row — together they cover most French spelling.

2

Type or click your text

Click on-screen keys, or place the cursor in the box and type on your physical keyboard. Mix the two freely — click ç for a letter you can't find, then keep typing.

3

Reach digits and symbols with Shift

On AZERTY the number row shows letters and punctuation by default. To type the digits 1–0, or the ° and + symbols, hold Shift while pressing those keys.

4

Copy or clear when done

Press Copy to send the whole text to your clipboard, then paste it into a document, email or chat. Backspace removes the last character; Clear empties the box.

When a French Keyboard Comes in Handy

You often need French not for a whole essay but for one stubborn word. These are the moments this keyboard is built for:

Names spelled correctly

Write François, Zoé, Chloé or Loïc with the accents they should carry, not a stripped version.

French class and homework

Type exercises, essays and vocabulary lists with proper accents so your teacher sees achèterais, not acheterais.

Messaging the Francophone world

French is official in around thirty countries. Reply to contacts in France, Quebec or West Africa from a device set to another language.

Forms and search

Enter terms like hôtel, numéro or café so searches and records match exactly.

What Makes AZERTY Different from QWERTY

AZERTY takes its name from the first six letters of the top row — A, Z, E, R, T, Y — just as QWERTY does. But the differences run well past that corner. If you learned to touch-type on QWERTY, these are the changes that trip you up until your fingers adjust:

A and Q swap, Z and W swap. A takes the top-left letter spot while Q drops to the home row; Z sits where W was, and W moves to the bottom row.
M lives on the home row. M is at the far right of the home row, just after L — where a QWERTY typist expects the semicolon.
The number row is "accents first". Its keys type é è ç à and punctuation such as & " ' ( ) by default; the digits 1 through 0 appear only when you hold Shift.
Punctuation shifts around. The comma, semicolon and colon live on the bottom row, and their Shift versions give ?, . and / — so a full stop is Shift on the semicolon key.
The top-left key is ². Where QWERTY keeps the backtick and tilde, AZERTY places ² and ³.

On this layout the accented letters are their lowercase forms. Because Shift on the number row produces digits, there is no direct capital É or À here — the same behaviour you'd meet on a physical French keyboard.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where are é, è, à and ç on this keyboard?

All four sit on the top number row, each on its own key: é on the 2 key, è on the 7 key, ç on the 9 key and à on the 0 key — just tap them, no modifier needed. The fifth accent, ù, is on the home row right of M.

Why do the number keys type letters and punctuation instead of digits?

That is standard AZERTY behaviour: French uses accents so often that they take the unshifted position, pushing the digits 1–0 onto the Shift layer. Hold Shift and press the same top-row keys to type numbers.

How do I type a capital with an accent, like É?

This layout provides the accented letters in lowercase. Because Shift on those number-row keys gives digits rather than capitals, there is no one-key É or À here — which mirrors a real French keyboard, where accented capitals are famously awkward to type.

What is the ç key actually for?

The cedilla under the c signals a soft "s" sound before a, o or u, where a plain c would be hard — hence français, garçon and reçu. You'll find it on the 9 key of the number row.

Where did A, Q, Z, W and M go compared to QWERTY?

A and Q change places, and so do Z and W: A opens the top letter row, Q starts the home row, Z sits above it and W drops to the bottom row. M leaves the bottom row and moves to the end of the home row, just past L. If a word comes out garbled, one of these swaps is usually why.

Can I mix the on-screen keys with my own keyboard?

Yes. Type normally for the letters you know, and click the on-screen é, è, ç, à or ù whenever you hit an accent your device can't produce. Both feed the same text box.