Accent letters, copy and paste.

Letters with accent marks: a simple guide

You’re writing José or café, but your keyboard only has a plain e. That’s where this page helps. Find the accented letter above, click to copy it, and paste it into your text. For a whole sentence, try the online accent keyboard. You can use small letters or capitals, whichever your word needs.

Accent marks are the small marks you see on letters like é, ñ, and ü. They’re also called diacritics. They can change how a word sounds or help tell two words apart. Their use depends on the language: Spanish ñ, for example, is a letter in its own right. You’ll also find related characters here, such as ø, æ, and ß.

Common accented vowels and consonants

Start with the plain letter you know. The guides for a with an accent (á, à, â, ä, ã, å) and e with an accent (é, è, ê, ë) put the common forms in one place. You can also find i with an accent (í, ì, î, ï), o with an accent (ó, ò, ô, ö, õ), and u with an accent (ú, ù, û, ü). For ñ or ç, open n with a tilde or c with a cedilla. Each page has letters to copy and codes for typing them.

Types of accent marks and examples

You don’t have to know an accent’s name to use it. Match the mark you need with the examples below. Just remember that the same mark can do a different job in another language.

Accent letters for Spanish, French, German, and more

An accent is part of a word’s spelling. If you’re copying a name or learning a new word, keep its marks in place. Here are a few examples to help you find the letters you need.

Spanish accents: á, é, í, ó, ú, ü, and ñ

You’ll see accented vowels in words like teléfono and música. Spanish also has ñ, the letter in español and mañana. The two dots on ü tell you to say the u in words such as pingüino. Need a capital? Choose Uppercase above the letter grid to find Á, É, Í, Ó, Ú, Ü, and Ñ.

French accents: é, è, ê, ç, and more

Think of café, crème, fête, and français. Each uses a different mark, so it’s worth checking which one your word needs. The accented e guide lets you compare é, è, ê, and ë side by side. Their capital forms, É, È, Ê, and Ë, are there too.

German umlauts: ä, ö, and ü

The dots on German ä, ö, and ü change the vowel sound. You can see them in schön and für. Use Ä, Ö, and Ü for capitals. If you also need German sharp s, ß, you’ll find it in the S guide. It’s a separate letter, not an accented s.

Portuguese accents and letters from other languages

Words like café, você, não, à, and coração show some of the marks used in Portuguese. The A–Z guides also cover letters used in Italian, Nordic languages, Polish, Czech, and Vietnamese. If you already have a letter but don’t know its name, paste it into the search box to find it.

How to type accented letters on your keyboard

For one missing letter, copying and pasting is often enough. If you type accents every day, you may prefer a shortcut or a keyboard layout for that language. The method you use will depend on your device and the app you’re writing in.

Windows: use ALT codes or copy and paste

Look up your letter in the ALT codes for accented letters. For a supported code, turn on Num Lock, hold Alt, type the full code on the numeric keypad, and release Alt. Include the first zero if the code has one. Use the keypad, not the number row above the letters. If your laptop doesn’t have one, or the code gives you the wrong character, you can copy and paste the letter from this page.

Microsoft Word: type an accent, then the letter

To write é in Word for Windows, press Ctrl + ' (apostrophe), let go, then type e. For è, press Ctrl + ` (grave), let go, then type e. To get ç, use Ctrl + , (comma), followed by c. These shortcuts are for Word; don’t expect them to work in every website’s text box. You can find more in Microsoft’s accent shortcut guide.

Mac: open the accent menu

Try holding down a letter key. In Mac apps that support it, a menu of accented letters will appear. Click the one you want, or press the number shown beside it. If no menu appears, copy a letter here and paste it with Command + V. Apple’s guide to accent marks on Mac explains the other options.

Phones and tablets: tap a character to copy

Tap a letter on this page to copy it. It will also appear in your writing pad. Go to the message or document you’re working on, touch and hold where you want the letter, and choose Paste. The pad’s Copy button copies everything you’ve built. For a longer message, use the accent keyboard, where you can type and edit your text.