miketuan

[restive trail]

Please be patient

Our volunteers look into many questions every day; sometimes it takes them a little while to answer.

Pro tip: you can rename the thread title with `.tr <thread name>`

Make it descriptive, including relevant context, but also to the point. This way you improve your chances of getting a more relevant and specific answer.

[vagrant reef]

The circumflex is mostly used to mark that there was a dropped consonant, usually S. For example, « forêt » used to be « forest », and the dropped consonant is marked with a circumflex on the preceding vowel, same as « il connaît, il plaît » which used to be « il connoist, il plaist ». It used to be that the dropped S lengthened the preceding vowel so there was a difference between « tâche / tache » where the vowel in the first word is lengthened but in Metropolitan French (French spoken in France), that vowel length distinction is mostly gone which is why some words have had their circumflexes removed like « connaitre, gouter, bruler, etc ».

This deletion only happens for the vowels I and U since most words with circumflexes on these two vowels don’t have a difference in pronunciation. However, the circumflex is kept when removing it would mean confusion with another word. Examples:
jeune (young) / jeûne (fast as in breakfast)
mur (wall) / mûr (ripe)
sur (on) / sûr (safe/certain)
je crois (I believe, croire) / je croîs (I grow, croître)