How to Type Accented Letters in Scottish Gaelic
If you’re an English speaker, or more to the point, an English-language keyboard and phone user, you may have noticed a problem the first time you tried to type words in Scottish Gaelic. Gaelic has accented letters that are not found in English: à, è, ì, ò, and ù. This may be confusing to you if you’ve never typed accented letters on a keyboard before. Because English doesn’t contain accented letters for the most part, native English speakers are not always aware of how technology was designed with their language as the default.
This blog post will give you the quickest way to start typing the accented letters on a Windows computer, Mac, Android smartphone, or iPhone so that you can get your Gaelic homework done or spell that Facebook post properly!
There are other fancier solutions to this problem which require installing an international keyboard configuration on your computer, or the SwiftKey app on your phone, but this blog post won’t cover those options.
If you wish to explore these and other tech-based solutions, or go “full Gaelic” as much as possible on your computer, I recommend visiting the iGàidhlig website for advice.
Nisd, move the cat off your keyboard and let’s get right into it:
Typing accented letters on iPhone or Android
I’ve made a screenshot video of this process. Click on the video to view it:
If you want to type in Scottish Gaelic on your iPhone or Android smartphone, here’s how to type the accented characters.
Open up any app in which you want to type. In the video I’m using the Notes app as an example, but it works in email, texting, Facebook, Twitter, and everywhere else. Get to the keyboard view in the app.
Touch the key of the accented letter that you want to type, for example, a, and hold your finger on the key until you see a pop-up window displaying a range of accented letters. Keeping your finger in contact with the screen, slide up and over to highlight the à and then take your finger off the screen. The phone will type an à. Repeat for any other desired vowel.
To get the accented capital letters, press the SHIFT key on your phone’s keyboard and then repeat the above process.
Typing accented letters on a Mac
On a Mac, to type the lowercase accented letters à, è, ì, ò, and ù:
Press OPTION (ALT), and while holding down the OPTION key, type the ` key (it’s the key with both a grave accent ` and a tilde ~ on it, usually to the left of the numeral 1 key). Then release both keys. Now immediately type the letter you want.
How to type Gaelic accented characters on a Mac
To get the uppercase accented letters À, È, Ì, Ò, and Ù:
Press OPTION (ALT), and while keeping it pressed, also press the ` key. Then release both keys. Now immediately type the SHIFT key, and while holding down the SHIFT key, type the letter you want.
If you are typing Gaelic in Nova Scotia, or quoting an older Scottish text, you may need the acute-accented characters á, é, or ó. To get these characters, press OPTION (ALT), and while holding down the OPTION key, type the e key. Then release both keys. Now immediately type a, e, or o.
Typing accented letters on a Windows computer
On a Windows computer, to type the lowercase accented letters à, è, ì, ò, and ù:
Press CTRL, and while holding it down, type the ` key. Then release both keys. Now immediately type the letter you want.
How to type Gaelic accented characters on a Windows computer
To get the uppercase accented letters À, È, Ì, Ò, and Ù:
Press CTRL, and while keeping it pressed, also press the ` key. Then release both keys. Now immediately type the SHIFT key, and while holding down the SHIFT key, type the letter you want.
If you are typing Gaelic in Nova Scotia, or quoting an older Scottish text, you may need the acute-accented characters á, é, or ó. To get these characters, press CTRL, and while holding down the CTRL key, type the e key. Then release both keys. Now immediately type a, e, or o.
If this does not work, then follow the instructions here for several different versions of Windows, to activate the “United States International” keyboard on your computer: http://sites.psu.edu/symbolcodes/windows/codeint/
If this isn’t working for you, leave a comment below and we’ll try to help you sort it out!
Another way to type accents on a PC is with alt codes. It may seem a little awkward at first, but it’s actually much less so, to my mind, than other options, and you quickly learn to touch-type the ones you use most often. This site has a useful list:
https://usefulshortcuts.com/alt-codes/accents-alt-codes.php
To type an accented character using the alt code for it, you need a keyboard with a number pad to the right of the main keyboard. Make sure your num lock key is off. Then hold down one of your “alt” keys while typing the numerical sequence on the number pad. For example, for à, you hold down the alt key and type 0224 on the number pad. When you release the alt key, the accented letter appears.
Slightly off topic, but not entirely, if you type Gaelic often on your phone, it’s worth installing a Swiftkey keyboard option. That will keep your phone’s autocorrect from “helpfully” changing what you type in Gaelic into what it thinks you meant in English! http://www.swiftkey.com
Tapadh leat gu mòr Audrey!
I’m learning Gàidhlig using Duolingo and I actually understood that! Fàilte! (I am using SwiftKey on my phone, here.)
Glè mhath, tha mi toilichte sin a chluinntinn!
The easiest way for me to include the accents is to use the English>United States>International keyboard. That allows typing in many languages using the Roman alphabet, including all the Scandinavian languages and other Germanic, the Romance (except for Romanian), and many others.
Possibly worth mentioning that the Mac keyboard layout in the UK is arranged slightly different to the US version pictured (the [ ` ] key is directly above-left the left alt/option key in the UK). The keystroke is the same though.
https://cdn2.techadvisor.co.uk/cmsdata/reviews/3660792/mbp_2017_13_trackpad.jpg
And on Windows, the [ ` ] is in the same place, though does not also have the [ ~ ] on it but the [ ¬ ] instead.
NB: Windows users with UK keyboards will probably want to select ‘UK International’ layout rather than ‘US International’, otherwise their keyboard will behave unexpectedly (some of the non-alphanumeric keys are in different locations).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_and_American_keyboards
Yes I’m afraid my explanation was a bit biased towards North American computer users! Tapadh leat for the extra clarification!
English>United States>International keyboard has been the easiest for me. For French I have only one letter to type using alt + the numbers: œ.
Tapadh leat! Yes it looks as though that is the easiest option overall. I really should set my keyboard that way… 🙂
To some extent it depends on what you’re used to. When I first started learning Irish, I worked on a shared computer, and it was frustrating to the others when they’d forget to switch back to the standard American keyboard (certain characters shift around on the international keyboard, including the rather important @ symbol). Because of that, I started using alt codes, and for me, now, they’re the simplest method because I can touch type them without thinking about it. I also have to use alt codes a lot at work, so they come pretty naturally to me. It’s nice to have so many choices, as what works well for one may be less comfortable for others.
One thing I love about the swiftkey app on my phone is it automatically intuits the need for a fada (acute accent mark), which is a little bit faster than having to do the “hold down-slide-tap” method. It doesn’t work in all circumstances — you still have to watch what you’re typing — but in general it works very well (I do get a bit of a kick out of it when it puts accents on English words because I’m too lazy to toggle back to the standard iPhone keyboard, however. “No” becomes “nó,” for example).
Speaking of smartphones, have you considered doing a post on Gaelic text abbreviations? There are quite a few abbreviations used by Irish texters, including two of my favorites, “an8” (anocht) and “a#” (a thaisce).
Hmm. You are ignoring the importance of using the Nova Scotia orthography system of continuing to use the accent acute as in glé and mór. I have little respect for Scottish intellectuals who have removed the accent acute. Frankly, they’re not too bright or educated. particular, Gaelic language learners need to see both the grave and acute accents.
Hmm. Not sure where you get the idea that I’m ignoring our Nova Scotia Gaelic accented letters in this post.
iPhone/Android instructions from the text of the post above are generalized:
“Touch the key of the accented letter that you want to type, for example, a, and hold your finger on the key until you see a pop-up window displaying a range of accented letters. Keeping your finger in contact with the screen, slide up and over to highlight the à and then take your finger off the screen. The phone will type an à. Repeat for any other desired vowel.”
iPhone/Android instructions from the instructional video:
“…if you’re typing in Nova Scotia Gaelic… you can also type some of the acute characters. For é, hold down the e […] Same thing for á […] and for ó…”
Mac instructions from the post above:
“If you are typing Gaelic in Nova Scotia, or quoting an older Scottish text, you may need the acute-accented characters á, é, or ó. To get these characters, press OPTION (ALT), and while holding down the OPTION key, type the e key. Then release both keys. Now immediately type a, e, or o.”
Windows instructions from the post above:
“If you are typing Gaelic in Nova Scotia, or quoting an older Scottish text, you may need the acute-accented characters á, é, or ó. To get these characters, press CTRL, and while holding down the CTRL key, type the e key. Then release both keys. Now immediately type a, e, or o.”
This post is just a keyboarding tutorial, but I’ve included a brief discussion of Nova Scotia orthographical differences in another blog post: https://gaelic.co/top-10-gaelic-diffs-part-2/
Thank you for your interest.
This is a rather nasty comment from someone who clearly didn’t bother to read the article. Can’t you state your case for learners learning about both accents without calling people “Not too bright or educated”?
This comment reminds me of the people who have told me that they won’t read “The Irish Gaelic Tattoo Handbook” because of the term “Irish Gaelic,” which is not typically used in Ireland (except for by writers who are addressing a largely American public). Their assertion that it indicates that the writer is “Not actually an Irish speaker” and “Is disrespectful to Irish culture” is both factually incorrect and more than a bit snobbish.
Tha thusa ceart. Bi mise a’ cleachdadh “Irish Gaelic” a dh’ aon ghnothach, a chionn is gum bi mi a’ cur cuideam air a h-eachdraidh còmhla ri Gàidhlig na h-Alba.
Tha sin gle fheumail, tapadh leat! Lorg mise a-mach gun robh an doigh “alt còdan” beagan buaireanta, a chionn is gum bi duine a’ clo-sgrìobhadh uaireigin aig meur-chlàr às an aonais. (A chionn às aonais phada-iuchraichean) . Air an aobhar sin, b’fheàrr leam a bhith ann an cleachdadh, mar a tha thu dìreach air sealltainn dhomh. A-rithist, tapadh leat!
‘Se do bheatha!
Just a note for those of us who are aberrant and use Linux, it is ‘Alt Gr’ or right Alt and the key for the accent then the letter. I.E.: ‘Alt Gr”+ ` then what ever letter
Tapadh leat a Mhícheil!
Unfortunately, there is no “Alt GR” key on U.S. keyboards (I don’t know about Canada)
It’s not labelled on most keyboards, but actually the Alt key on the right of your spacebar is the Alt Gr[aphics] key, and any program/OS that understands the distinction will maintain it automatically.
On UK layout keyboards, it is AltGr-# then e for è and AltGr-; for é.
There’s another possible way in Linux. One caveat: this may be distribution dependant. I’m using Kubuntu, (Ubuntu’s KDE variant) and haven’t tried it on Gnome, Cinnamon or other systems yet.
There is a “Scottish Gaelic” layout in System Settings/Input Devices/Keyboad/layouts; add it to your keyboard layouts list. Note that this is a variant of the British keyboard layout. If you’re using a US keyboard, it’s easy to switch layouts when you want to type accented letters. E.g. to get à, select the gb layout and just type Alt Gr + a.
Another method I’ve used is to create a small text file with just the accented letters, and copy and paste as needed.
Tapadh leibh!
I use Kubuntu too. The best way by far on Kubuntu (and other Linuxes) is to go to the settings and declare AltGr to be a “Compose character” key. Then you get
è by typing AltGr ` e
È by typing AltGr ` E
é by typing AltGr ‘ e
ó by typing AltGr ‘ o
ç by typing AltGr , c
ä by typing AltGr ” a
æ by typing AltGr a e
ø by typing AltGr / o
ß by typing AltGr s s
“ by typing AltGr ”
’ by typing AltGr > ‘
CO₂ by typing C O AltGr _ 2
½ by typing AltGr 1 2
etc, etc, etc. You don’t need any special ‘Scottish Gaelic’ keyboard layout.
If you have a Windows computer with a US physical keyboard, the best keyboard by far for typing Gaelic is probably the Moby keyboard. You have to download it and install it, but that only takes a couple of minutes. It gives you all the graves and accutes needed for typing Gaelic, Irish Gaelic, French, Spanish, etc. It gives you an easy way of typing curly quotes in any program, so you can become a curly quote snob ‘ ’ “ ”. It doesn’t mess up your apostrophe key the way the US International keyboard does. In fact, other people using the computer will not even notice that it is there. More information here:
http://www.smo.uhi.ac.uk/gaidhlig/sracan/Whacking/MobyLatinKeyboard.html
Using Win 10 and the US Intl keyboard, your instructions don’t work for me, but Right Alt ` followed by the letter does.
Whoops. I mean Left Alt
(Right Alt is what I use on a UK keyboard for Welsh accents, lol)
What’s the system if you have Windows 10 and a UK keyboard?
Michael Bauer has provided some instructions at iGàidhlig.net which might work! http://www.igaidhlig.net/en/siostaman-windows-810/
Halò! I just wanted to chime in that on the current update of windows 10, if you’re in the US, installing the Gàidhlig or international (interlingua) keyboard in your windows language settings will allow this to work, and you only have to hit the ` key and the letter you want accented. the Alt key nullifies the keybind in this case. At least, that’s how it was for me, so if anyone is having the same issue, try that!
How do you write A bond formed is a Bond unbroken Scottish Gaelic?
For an answer, please read my two blog posts about tattoo translations here: “So You Want a Scottish Gaelic Tattoo – Part One” and “So You Want a Scottish Gaelic Tattoo – Part Two”!
Happened upon your blog while searching how to type accented letters for my business slogans. Thank you so much for making it super simple! Slàinte!
‘Se do bheatha!
Dear Reader,
All of this information is interesting but a bit confusing to an American. Could you clarify which accent, grave or acute, is “most” correct for Slàinte? Maybe it’s a case of ancient versus modern or Irish/Scottish versus Nova Scotia? Also, I have seen the occasional spelling where an accented ‘e’ is used. Is that at all correct?
Thanks!!
Thank you for your questions! Here’s the scoop:
In Gaelic (Scottish Gaelic, Gàidhlig) the word “slàinte” is only ever written with the grave accent. This is done everywhere that Gaelic is spoken (Scotland and Nova Scotia). There are a couple of words where the á can be used in old-fashioned Gaelic spelling system, which is what we use in Nova Scotia, but “slàinte” is not one of them.
In Irish (Gaeilge) the word “sláinte” is only ever written with the acute accent.
On the other hand, using an accented “é” at the end of “slàinte” in Scottish Gaelic or “sláinte” in Irish is always wrong! It’s a misspelling, most likely by English speakers who want to sprinkle accents around for decoration. However, in Scottish Gaelic accents usually indicate vowel length, and using an accent mark in the wrong place is a spelling mistake.
Tha mi’n dòchas gu bheil sin cuideachail dhuibh! I hope that is helpful to you!
Just to add to Emily’s most excellent answer: Irish and Scottish Gaelic, which are very close sister languages have very similar looking writing systems (we do not, however, speak of Manx). One big difference though is that Irish uses the forward (acute) accent: á é í ó ú and Scottish Gaelic uses the backwards or grave accent: à è ì ò ù. Although they look different, they mean the same thing, which is that the vowel becomes a bit longer – like the difference in sound between the English words ‘cot’ and ‘caught’.
Just to complicate things a little, Scottish Gaelic also has an occasional acute accent, which marks a change in vowel sound. In the early 1980s, the Scottish education authority decided this was confusing and decreed that all accents would be grave, regardless of pronunciation. Not everyone thinks this is an improvement, and Canadian Gaels have very sensibly ignored it.
On a Windows 10 PC, you can also enable the Touch Keyboard Button on the taskbar. This gives you access to special characters, including Gaelic acute and grave accents. Full instructions in this short video:
Hi Emily
I’ve recently got a new laptop and using windows 11. It looks as though my keyboard just does not want to know accents.
I ca. Get them on n my iPhone of course but that doesn’t help!
Just wondered if you have come across this
Hi Agnes! I just did a bit of Googling and I think it might have to do with the computer’s default keyboard “Language” setting. It may be that you have to add another language to “English (United Kingdom)” to get the accent marks to work. Here’s a page about changing or adding languages (beware the clickbait advertisements here and there): https://windowsreport.com/change-language-windows-11/
After that’s changed, this page might help–scroll about 2/3 of the way down to the section “Typing Accents With Keyboard Shortcuts on Windows 11”: https://allthings.how/how-to-type-accents-in-windows-11/
This page is for Americans and refers to having to make a “US English International” keyboard choice, so maybe there is something similar you can choose for the UK? Or add a French keyboard as a secondary choice?
Tha mi duilich nach eil e cho simplidh! Leig fios thugam ciamar a tha thu a’ faighinn air adhart!
Emily
You may find this of use. While specific examples are for acute (right-slanting) accents, you can get grave (left-slanting) accents by subtracting one number from the alt code (for example, alt +0225 = á, so alt + 0224 = à).
https://thegeekygaeilgeoir.wordpress.com/2017/08/27/are-you-a-fada-less-child/
Hello,
I am trying to figure out how to use the Gaeilge symbol keyboard to spell the names Angel N Irish however I am not sure I am using the correct symbols? to do this. Can you help me? I have been googling and using translate, but neither seem to be able to help.
Holding the letter down, that you want accented, works fine on my Android phone, but I’m wanting a C with a dot on top (Ċ) and that’s not offered. I can get it with the Alt numpad method on my PC. Unfortunately, I can’t get it in anything but Arial and Times Roman, but the latter works with at least a couple of the fonts that I’m looking to choose from. I might name my cello Anam Ċara and make a website, just for the fun of it!
Found this while making a little program that makes a small quiz for the Celtic goddesses and I’m so happy that now I know how to do this. Thank you so much! Also, would you happen to know really good resources for Celtic lore, especially Scottish or a good way to try and learn Gaelic?
‘S e ur beatha! I do have a couple of other blog posts that may be relevant to your questions.
First off, here’s one that’s relevant for Jan. 31st/Feb. 1st: https://gaelic.co/bridget/
Secondly, here is one about learning Gaelic! See the comments too, which contain some info about the Scottish Gaelic Duolingo course (which is free): https://gaelic.co/learning-scottish-gaelic/
The word Gaelic in Scotland is pronounced GA ELIC not GAY ELIC. Scots speak GA elic, Irish speak Gay elic.
Yes, I’m well aware that it’s pronounced “Gah-lik” in Scotland. But I’m in Nova Scotia, and here, when we’re speaking in English, we say “Gay-lik” for Scottish Gaelic. But of course when we’re speaking *in* Gaelic, we pronounce the word “Gàidhlig” more like “Gah-lik.” Have a look at my post “Top 10 Differences Between Gaelic in Nova Scotia and Scotland – Part One” to learn more.
I’m also well aware that some Scottish folks refuse to accept the evidence, and regard all Nova Scotians as “wrong.” Anyone who can’t accept the reality of Nova Scotia definitely wouldn’t want to come visit, though. They especially wouldn’t want to come to Cape Breton for the Celtic Colours festival. 😀