Ognon or oignon, maître or maitre: both are correct, and here is why.
The French spelling reform of 1990, officially the rectifications de l'orthographe, adjusted the spelling of about 2,000 words. It was prepared by the Conseil supérieur de la langue française, approved by the Académie française and published in the Journal officiel on 6 December 1990.
Learners run into it without knowing: one book writes maître and connaître, another maitre and connaitre. Both are right. This guide lists what the reform changed, what it left alone, and which spelling to choose.
The reform is a set of recommendations, not a new law of the language. It simplified spellings that had no logic or that contradicted pronunciation, and it left grammar alone: past participle agreement, for example, works exactly as before. The traditional spellings were not abolished, so a text can use either system.
In French you will see nouvelle orthographe, orthographe rectifiée or réforme de 1990. All three names refer to the same list of changes. Recent dictionaries show the rectified form next to the traditional one for many of the words concerned.
The best known change: the circumflex is no longer required on i and u. It stays on a, e and o, where it often changes the sound (pâte, fête, hôtel).
| Traditional | 1990 spelling | Why |
|---|---|---|
| maître, connaître | maitre, connaitre | circumflex dropped on i |
| coût, flûte | cout, flute | circumflex dropped on u |
| il paraît | il parait | circumflex dropped on i |
| sûr, mûr, dû | sûr, mûr, dû | kept: sur, mur and du mean something else |
| nous vîmes, qu'il fût | nous vîmes, qu'il fût | kept in passé simple and imperfect subjunctive endings |
Dû keeps its accent only in the masculine singular, as before: due, dus, dues have none. Our guide to French accents covers the circumflex on the other vowels.
Some words had an é where everyone says an open è. The reform lets you write the accent you hear: évènement, règlementaire, sècheresse, crèmerie. The same logic applies to the future and conditional of verbs like céder: je cèderai, je cèderais.
Borrowed words take French accents, so référendum and révolver are written like other French words. The tréma moves onto the u that is pronounced: aigüe and ambigüe instead of aiguë and ambiguë.
A few words had a spelling out of line with their pronunciation or their family. The reform corrected them, and the traditional forms remain accepted.
Ognon is the example everyone quotes, yet oignon remains the usual spelling on menus and packaging.
Before 1990, numbers took hyphens only between tens and units below one hundred: vingt et un, deux cent trois. Now every part of a written number can be joined: vingt-et-un, deux-cent-trois, mille-cinq-cents. Cent and vingt still agree as before, which is why mille-cinq-cents takes an s. Our page on the agreement of numbers explains when they do.
Many compound nouns are welded into one word: portemonnaie, weekend, pingpong, extraterrestre. Compounds made of a verb and a noun follow the plural of ordinary nouns: un sèche-cheveu, des sèche-cheveux; un après-midi, des après-midis.
Verbs in -eler and -eter take a grave accent instead of a double consonant: il ruissèle, il étiquète, j'époussète. Appeler, jeter and their compounds keep their double letter: il appelle, il jette. Our guide to French double consonants lists the words that still double.
Two smaller rules complete the list. Laissé followed by an infinitive no longer agrees, like fait: elle s'est laissé tomber, where the traditional rule wrote laissée. Borrowed nouns take a regular plural: des matchs, des maximums.
Neither system is wrong, so the choice depends on where you write. What readers notice is mixing both in one text.
| Situation | Spelling to use | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Pupil at a French school | the one your teacher uses | school programmes refer to the 1990 spelling |
| Exam or test | either, applied throughout | the Académie française recommends that neither form be marked as a mistake |
| Writing for work | either, applied throughout | a mix of both looks like a typo |
| Reading books and newspapers | recognise both | many publishers keep the traditional spelling |
The 1990 reform made some spellings simpler, it did not make the old ones wrong. Pick one system, keep it for a whole text, and learn to recognise the other when you read.
Is the 1990 French spelling reform mandatory?
No. The rectifications are recommendations, and the traditional spellings remain correct. You can use either, as long as you stay consistent.
Is it oignon or ognon?
Both are correct. Ognon is the 1990 spelling, closer to the pronunciation; oignon is the traditional one and still the most common in print.
Was the circumflex accent removed from French?
Only on i and u, and not everywhere. It stays in passé simple and imperfect subjunctive endings and in words where it changes the meaning, such as sûr and dû. On a, e and o nothing changed.
Is it événement or évènement?
Both. Évènement follows the pronunciation, with an open è in the second syllable; événement is the traditional spelling.
What is the nouvelle orthographe?
It is the French name for the 1990 rectifications. You may also see orthographe rectifiée or réforme de 1990; they all refer to the same changes.
Apostrophe· reads you a sentence, corrects it word by word, and explains the exact rule behind each mistake.
Try it free