How to Type A with an Accent Mark (À Á Â Ã Ä Å) on Any Keyboard

The letter A appears with more accent variations than almost any other character in the Latin alphabet. From the grave à used in French and Italian, to the ring å central to Scandinavian languages, to the tilde ã found in Portuguese — each accented version of A has its own meaning, pronunciation, and correct usage. This guide covers every way to type every accented A on any device and platform.

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The Complete List of A with Accent Marks

Before diving into methods, here is every accented version of the letter A you might need:

Symbol	Name	Unicode	Languages
À / à	A with grave	U+00C0 / U+00E0	French, Italian, Portuguese
Á / á	A with acute	U+00C1 / U+00E1	Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Slovak, Irish
 / â	A with circumflex	U+00C2 / U+00E2	French, Portuguese, Romanian, Welsh
à / ã	A with tilde	U+00C3 / U+00E3	Portuguese, Vietnamese
Ä / ä	A with umlaut / diaeresis	U+00C4 / U+00E4	German, Swedish, Finnish, Estonian
Å / å	A with ring above	U+00C5 / U+00E5	Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish
Ā / ā	A with macron	U+0100 / U+0101	Latvian, Lithuanian, Māori, academic transliteration
Ă / ă	A with breve	U+0102 / U+0103	Romanian, Vietnamese
Ą / ą	A with ogonek	U+0104 / U+0105	Polish, Lithuanian
Ǎ / ǎ	A with caron	U+01CD / U+01CE	Pinyin romanization of Mandarin
Æ / æ	AE ligature	U+00C6 / U+00E6	Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic, Old English

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How to Type A with an Accent on Windows

Alt Codes (Numpad)

Make sure Num Lock is on, hold Alt, type the code on the numeric keypad, then release Alt.

Lowercase accented A

Character	Name	Alt Code
à	A with grave	Alt + 133
á	A with acute	Alt + 160
â	A with circumflex	Alt + 131
ã	A with tilde	Alt + 198
ä	A with umlaut	Alt + 132
å	A with ring	Alt + 134
æ	AE ligature	Alt + 145
ā	A with macron	Alt + 0257
ă	A with breve	Alt + 0259
ą	A with ogonek	Alt + 0261

Uppercase accented A

Character	Name	Alt Code
À	A with grave	Alt + 0192
Á	A with acute	Alt + 0193
Â	A with circumflex	Alt + 0194
Ã	A with tilde	Alt + 0195
Ä	A with umlaut	Alt + 0196
Å	A with ring	Alt + 0197
Æ	AE ligature	Alt + 0198
Ā	A with macron	Alt + 0256
Ă	A with breve	Alt + 0258
Ą	A with ogonek	Alt + 0260

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Unicode Input (Microsoft Word)

Type the Unicode code point then press Alt + X to convert:

Character	Type this	Then press
à	00E0	Alt + X
á	00E1	Alt + X
â	00E2	Alt + X
ã	00E3	Alt + X
ä	00E4	Alt + X
å	00E5	Alt + X
æ	00E6	Alt + X
ā	0101	Alt + X
ă	0103	Alt + X
ą	0105	Alt + X

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Character Map

1. Open Start and search “Character Map”
2. Search for “latin small letter a” or the specific accent name (e.g., “a with grave”)
3. Select your character
4. Click Select, then Copy
5. Paste into your document

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Add a Language Keyboard

For frequent use, adding the keyboard layout of the language you’re writing in is the most efficient long-term solution:

1. Go to Settings > Time & Language > Language & Region
2. Click Add a language
3. Choose French, Spanish, German, Portuguese, or whichever language you need
4. Switch layouts using Windows key + Space

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How to Type A with an Accent on Mac

Press and Hold (Easiest Method)

Simply press and hold the A key on your Mac keyboard and a popup will appear with all available accented variants. Slide to the one you want or press the corresponding number key.

Holding A shows: à á â ä æ ã å ā

This works in every macOS app with no setup required.

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Option Key Shortcuts

Press the Option key combination first, release, then type A:

Character	Shortcut
à (grave)	Option + ` then A
á (acute)	Option + E then A
â (circumflex)	Option + I then A
ã (tilde)	Option + N then A
ä (umlaut)	Option + U then A
å (ring)	Option + A
æ (ligature)	Option + ‘ (apostrophe)

Note: Option + A produces å directly without needing a second keypress — it is one of Mac’s single-step shortcuts.

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Character Viewer

1. Press Control + Command + Space
2. Search for “a with” followed by the accent name (e.g., “a with ring”)
3. Double-click to insert

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Unicode Hex Input

1. Enable Unicode Hex Input under System Settings > Keyboard > Input Sources
2. Hold Option and type the Unicode code point:
   • 00E0 → à
   • 00E1 → á
   • 00E2 → â
   • 00E3 → ã
   • 00E4 → ä
   • 00E5 → å
   • 00E6 → æ

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How to Type A with an Accent on iPhone and iPad

Press and Hold (Built-In)

Just like on Mac, iOS supports accent popups natively. Press and hold the A key and a row of accented variants slides up above the keyboard:

à á â ä æ ã å ā

Slide your finger to the character you want and release. Works in every iOS app with no setup required.

Uppercase Variants

Press and hold the A key while the Shift key is active (or tap Shift first, then hold A) to access uppercase accented A variants in the same popup.

Switch Keyboard Language

For full access to all accented A variants used in a specific language:

1. Go to Settings > General > Keyboard > Keyboards
2. Tap Add New Keyboard
3. Choose your target language (French, Spanish, German, Portuguese, etc.)
4. Switch keyboards while typing using the globe icon

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How to Type A with an Accent on Android

Press and Hold

On most Android keyboards including Gboard, press and hold the A key to bring up a popup of accented variants:

à á â ä æ ã å

Slide to your choice and release.

Add a Language in Gboard

1. Open Gboard Settings
2. Tap Languages
3. Tap Add Keyboard
4. Select your target language
5. Switch languages using the globe icon while typing

Personal Dictionary Shortcut

For less common variants like ā, ă, or ą that may not appear in the press-and-hold popup:

1. Go to Gboard Settings > Dictionary > Personal Dictionary
2. Add the character (e.g., ā) with a shortcut like amac
3. Gboard will suggest it whenever you type that shortcut

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How to Type A with an Accent in Microsoft Word

Built-In Keyboard Shortcuts (Word Only)

Word has dedicated shortcuts for accented A that work regardless of your keyboard layout:

Character	Word Shortcut
á (acute)	Ctrl + ‘ then A
à (grave)	Ctrl + ` then A
â (circumflex)	Ctrl + Shift + ^ then A
ä (umlaut)	Ctrl + Shift + : then A
ã (tilde)	Ctrl + Shift + ~ then A
å (ring)	Ctrl + Shift + @ then A
æ (ligature)	Ctrl + Shift + & then A

For uppercase versions, hold Shift when typing the final A:

• Ctrl + ‘ then Shift + A → Á
• Ctrl + ` then Shift + A → À

Alt + X Method

Type the Unicode code point followed by Alt + X:

• 00E0 + Alt + X → à
• 00E1 + Alt + X → á
• 00E5 + Alt + X → å

Insert > Symbol

1. Go to Insert > Symbol > More Symbols
2. Set Subset to Latin Extended-A or Latin-1 Supplement
3. Find and click your accented A variant
4. Click Insert

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How to Type A with an Accent in Google Docs

Insert > Special Characters

1. Go to Insert > Special Characters
2. Search for “a with grave”, “a with ring”, or whichever variant you need
3. Click the character to insert it

Substitutions

1. Go to Tools > Preferences > Substitutions
2. Set up shortcuts for the characters you use most, for example:
   • Replace `a“ with à
   • Replace a' with á
   • Replace ao with å
3. Click OK

Copy and Paste

Copy any character you need directly from the table at the top of this article and paste it into your Google Doc.

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Accented A in HTML and CSS

For web developers, here are the HTML entities and Unicode values for every accented A:

Lowercase

Character	Named Entity	Hex Entity	Decimal Entity
à	à	à	à
á	á	á	á
â	â	â	â
ã	ã	ã	ã
ä	ä	ä	ä
å	å	å	å
æ	æ	æ	æ
ā	—	ā	ā
ă	—	ă	ă
ą	—	ą	ą

Uppercase

Character	Named Entity	Hex Entity	Decimal Entity
À	À	À	À
Á	Á	Á	Á
Â	Â	Â	Â
Ã	Ã	Ã	Ã
Ä	Ä	Ä	Ä
Å	Å	Å	Å
Æ	Æ	Æ	Æ
Ā	—	Ā	Ā
Ă	—	Ă	Ă
Ą	—	Ą	Ą

Best practice: For the six core accented A variants (à á â ã ä å), use the named entities — they are universally supported and highly readable in source code. For the extended variants (ā ă ą), use the hex numeric form. Always include <meta charset="UTF-8"> in your HTML <head>, which allows you to paste characters directly if preferred.

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Accented A by Language: When to Use Each Variant

French

Uses à (grave), â (circumflex), and æ (ligature):

• à — preposition meaning “to” or “at” (Je vais à Paris)
• â — appears in words like château, pâté, théâtre
• æ — appears in borrowed words like ex æquo

Spanish

Uses á (acute) only:

• Marks the stressed syllable in words like café, mamá, canción
• Also used in question words: qué, cómo, dónde

Portuguese

Uses à (grave), á (acute), â (circumflex), and ã (tilde):

• ã is the most distinctive — the nasal vowel sound in irmã, manhã, maçã
• â appears in words like câmara, lâmpada

German

Uses ä (umlaut) extensively:

• Changes pronunciation from a back vowel to a front vowel
• Common in words like Mädchen, kämpfen, Bäcker
• Uppercase Ä appears in words like Äpfel, Ärger

Swedish, Norwegian, Danish

Uses å (ring):

• Represents a long rounded vowel sound
• Appears in extremely common words: år (year), åtta (eight), gå (go)
• Å is the third-to-last letter of the Swedish and Norwegian alphabets

Romanian

Uses ă (breve) and â (circumflex):

• ă is one of the most frequent letters in Romanian, representing a central schwa-like vowel
• â appears in the middle of words like î does at the beginning

Polish

Uses ą (ogonek):

• Represents a nasalized vowel
• Appears in common words like są (they are), będą (they will be), prąd (current)

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Quick Reference: A with Accent Cheat Sheet

Character	Mac Shortcut	Windows Alt	Word Shortcut	HTML Entity
à	Option + ` then A	Alt + 133	Ctrl + ` then A	à
á	Option + E then A	Alt + 160	Ctrl + ‘ then A	á
â	Option + I then A	Alt + 131	Ctrl+Shift+^ then A	â
ã	Option + N then A	Alt + 198	Ctrl+Shift+~ then A	ã
ä	Option + U then A	Alt + 132	Ctrl+Shift+: then A	ä
å	Option + A	Alt + 134	Ctrl+Shift+@ then A	å
æ	Option + ‘	Alt + 145	Ctrl+Shift+& then A	æ
ā	Hold A (Mac/iOS)	Alt + 0257	0101 + Alt+X	ā
ă	Character Viewer	Alt + 0259	0103 + Alt+X	ă
ą	Character Viewer	Alt + 0261	0105 + Alt+X	ą

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Final Thoughts

The letter A is accented more ways than almost any other character in the Latin alphabet, and the right method for typing it depends entirely on which variant you need and how often you need it. For occasional use, press and hold on Mac and mobile covers the most common variants instantly with no setup. For regular writing in French, Spanish, German, or Portuguese, adding the language keyboard to your device is the most natural long-term solution. Word users get the cleanest experience through the built-in Ctrl shortcuts, while web developers should rely on named HTML entities for the six core variants. Whatever your platform, the full set of characters is always just above in this article — ready to copy and paste whenever you need them.