Two Dots Keyboard (Type & Copy Letters with the diaeresis Accent)

Two Dots Keyboard (Type & Copy Letters with the diaeresis Accent)

Type letters with the Diaeresis accent marks (below or above them) using this free online Two Dots keyboard tool.
1. Click inside the textbox and type the letter to be accented.
2. Click the Diaeresis Accent button to place it above or below the letter.
3. Click the Copy button to copy your letters with the Diaeresis accent mark.


Diaeresis Accent Above

̈

̤

Diaeresis Accent Below

About this Two Dots Accent Keyboard

This Two Dots Keyboard is an online tool that allows anyone to create, make or put a Diaeresis accent mark above or below any letter or character in just three steps. 

We all know that our keyboards have a standard set of letters, numbers, and symbols on them. To type these characters, we usually don’t need to press more than a few keys at once. There are times, however, when we need to type special letters, such as those with the Diaeresis accent mark below or above them. 

There are several ways to type these special letters on the keyboard, however, with some level of difficulty. And if you’re someone who frequently types any of the Diaeresis Accented letters, you may find it time-consuming to try to find ways to get those symbols with your keyboard.

That’s why we created this free Two Dots Keyboard for people like you to use, as it enables anyone irrespective of their technical knowledge to type and put Diaeresis accents on any letter or character. 

Thus, to type letters with the Diaeresis accent marks (below or above them), use this free online keyboard tool. You can do so following the steps below:

  1. Type the letter to be accented with Diaeresis inside the textbox.
  2. Click on one of the Diaeresis accent buttons to add it above or below the letter you typed in step 1. 
  3. Copy your letters with Diaeresis accent marks by clicking the Copy button.

Now that you’ve gotten the tool to type any letter with the Umlaut accent, we will like to use this opportunity to educate you more about this symbol.

The Umlaut Accent (Meaning, History, & Everything You Need to Know)

The Umlaut Accent consists of two dots placed on top of a vowel. The umlaut is a peculiar accent mark or diacritic. The reason for this lies in its alternative terms. 

The umlaut has different 'variants.' The symbol works as the diaeresis accent or the trema accent. All three terms indicate the accent mark with two dots on top of a vowel, but they perform different functions. Not only that, but they perform different functions in different languages. 

On the other hand, you can reason that accent marks perform different functions in different languages. Take the tilde, for instance. The tilde in Spanish refers to diacritics in general, but tildes refer to the tilde accent mark. 

So what is the umlaut, trema, or the diaeresis? What makes them different from one another? How do you type the umlaut on your keyboard? Here's everything you need to know about the umlaut. 

The Umlaut Accent

The umlaut accent is a Germanic accent mark. It is a distinct historical phenomenon of vowel-fronting in German and other Germanic languages. 

Umlauts are assimilations or vowel harmonies. The umlaut indicates a change in one sound to make a similar sound easier on the speaker. 

In German, the umlauts commonly occur when the word consists of two vowels, one after the other, with the second vowel being 'i'. 

For instance, the following vowels 'ai', 'oi', or 'ui' are difficult to pronounce for the German speaker. To solve this problem, the umlaut became a solution, and now words with these vowels are pronounced as: 'aj', 'oj', and, 'uj.' 

With time and language evolution, German now has three umlaut sounds. The sounds are written as: 'ae', 'oe' and, ue.' 

The Types Of German Umlauts

German has three main umlauts alongside its 26-letter alphabet:

  • Ä
  • Ö
  • Ü

Each of these umlauts has variations. There is a short umlaut and a long umlaut. These variations exist to differentiate pronunciations. How do you pronounce the German umlaut?

  • Ä – pronounced as the sound 'eh' or 'ê'  (note the circumflex accent)
  • Ö – pronounced as the sound 'ê'  (again, note the circumflex accent).
  • Ü – pronounced as the sound 'ee.' 

So what are the uses of the German umlaut accent?

Uses Of The German Umlaut

The German umlaut accent has two main functions in the language:

  • Distinguish between singular and plural forms.
  • Distinguish between present and past tenses.

 

Distinguish Singular And Plural Form

The best way to understand how this works is through an example. 

In German, the singular form of the word 'House' is 'Haus.' The plural for the word 'Haus' is 'Häuser.' Take note of the umlaut accent on the first vowel. Here are other examples:

  • Hand (hand) - Hände (hands)
  • Stock (stick) - Stöcke (sticks) (in English, the word stick remains the same in its plural form. The word stick falls in the category of countable and uncountable nouns. 
  • Kuss (kiss) - Küsse (kisses)

 

Distinguish Present And Past Tense

The best way to understand this usage is through examples. In English, there is the verb 'to lie.' In its present tense form, it is 'lie,' and in its past tense form, it is 'lied. '

In German, the present tense of the verb 'to lie' is 'lügen.' The past tense of the verb in German is 'log.' 

Here are other examples:

  • Haben (have) <present tense> - Hätten (had) <past tense>
  • Schlafen (sleep) <present tense> - Schläft (slept) <past tense>

The Diaeresis Accent

The diaeresis accent or diacritic denotes that two bordering letters (that would form a digraph and have the same sound pronunciation) come across as separate vowels in two syllables.

A digraph or digram is a hybrid of two letters representing one sound. For instance, look at the words 'day', 'rain,' and 'they.' The underlined words are the digraphs that form the /ai/ sound. They may have similar sounds, but the letters are different. Digraphs can be a mix of vowels and consonants. 

The diaeresis accent has its history embedded in the ancient greek writing system. In ancient Greek inscriptions, the diaeresis appeared on top of the letters ι and υ. It showed that a pair of vowel letters had a separated pronunciation rather than a gliding vowel. 

This rule does not apply in modern Greek, but more on that later. So which languages use the diaeresis accent?

Modern Languages That Use The Diaeresis Accent

The diaeresis accent isn't specific to one language like the umlaut. You will notice that different languages use the diaeresis accent in their writing systems. 

The Diaeresis Accent In Modern Greek

In modern Greek, the diaeresis accent functions in close to the same way. It denotes that two successive vowels have a separate pronunciation. Not only that, but in modern Greek, the diaeresis isn't specific to the letters ι and υ.

Here's an example of the Lord's Prayer in modern Greek:

Πάτερ ἡμῶν ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς· ἁγιασθήτω τὸ ὄνομά σου·

ἐλθέτω ἡ βασιλεία σου·

γενηθήτω τὸ θέλημά σου, ὡς ἐν οὐρανῷ, καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς·

τὸν ἄρτον ἡμῶν τὸν ἐπιούσιον δὸς ἡμῖν σήμερον·

καὶ ἄφες ἡμῖν τὰ ὀφειλήματα ἡμῶν,

ὡς καὶ ἡμεῖς ἀφίεμεν τοῖς ὀφειλέταις ἡμῶν·

καὶ μὴ εἰσενέγκῃς ἡμᾶς εἰς πειρασμόν, ἀλλὰ ῥῦσαι ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ τοῦ πονηροῦ.

Ἀμήν.

The underlined words contain the diaeresis, and you'll notice that the rule of the ancient Greeks does not apply. In modern Greek, the diaeresis indicates vowels with a diphthong pronunciation rather than concurrently as a digraph for a single phonetic vowel.

Lastly, in modern Greek, combining the acute and diaeresis indicates a stressed vowel after a break.

The Diaeresis Accent In English

According to the Collins Dictionary, the diaeresis indicated that two adjacent vowels have different pronunciations. The description is similar to what we understand to be the purpose of the diaeresis accent. 

In British and American English, the diaeresis accent is obsolete. Linguists consider it to be out of fashion. But the memories remain. For instance, the word cooperate used to have a diaeresis accent: coöperate. Other words that used to carry the diaeresis are naïve, reënter, etc. 

Today, the diaeresis accent is no longer on those specific words. Languages evolve, and the removal of accent marks in some borrowed words showcases that. Another example would be the word 'cafe.' 

In the English dictionary, the acute accent is no longer on the word 'cafe.'

The Diaeresis Accent In French

In French, the diaeresis accent is known as la trema. You can only find it on three vowels: ë, ï, and ü. It indicates that the vowel with the accent must have a distinct pronunciation from the vowel before it. What does that even mean?

It means that two back-to-back vowels do not have a single sound pronunciation. For instance:

  • maïs (translation: maize) [pronunciation: mais] - mais (translation: but) [pronunciation: mɛ]
  • caraïbe (translation: Carribean) [pronunciation: karaib] 

In two words, the diaeresis or la tréma works differently. It indicates that uë must have a single sound pronunciation: [u]. Without the diaeresis accent, both letters would be silent. Here are the two words:

  • aiguë - (translation) feminine of aigu (acute accent)          [pronunciation: egy]
  • ciguë - (translation) hemlock [pronunciation: sigy] 

The Diaeresis Accent In Dutch

In Dutch, the diaeresis accent on a vowel indicates the beginning of a new syllable. Furthermore, you can only put the diaeresis on the following letter combinations: ee, ei, eu, ie, aa, ae, ai, au, ui, uu, oe, oi, oo and ou. 

Here are the rules for the Danish diaeresis accent:

  1. Borrowed words from Spanish or French with the letter combinations do not have the diaeresis accent.
  2. When there are more than two letter combinations in one word, the vowel after does not have a diaeresis. For instance: knieën (knees), mozaïek (mosaic), geëerd (honoured), etc.
  3. In cases where a number is written in full, it will have a diaeresis. For instance: tweeëntwintig (twenty-two), drieëndertig (thirty-three), etc. 
  4. You do not put the diaeresis accent on compiled words.
  5. Words that end with an 'ie' with no stress in the singular have 'iën' in the plural.
  6. You do not place the diaeresis accent where there's a suffix. 

The Diaeresis Accent In Welsh

In Welsh, the diaeresis accent is known as the 'didolnod.' The diaeresis in Welsh appears on stressed vowels. How do you pronounce it? You pronounce the accented vowel in Welsh separately from the other syllables. 

Not only that but it is used on the first two vowels that would otherwise form a diphthong.

The Diaeresis Accent In Catalan

In Catalan, the diaeresis has two main functions. They use it to indicate hiatus over the vowels ï and ü. Furthermore, it indicates that the letter (u) is not silent in the groups gü, qü.

General Uses Of The Diaeresis Accent

Let's look at some of the general uses of the diaeresis accent. Remember that the umlaut is specific to Germany while the diaeresis is the term used worldwide. 

  1. The diaeresis represents diphthongs in modern Greek.
  2. It also represents exceptions to the rules behind diphthongs. This use only applies in Catalan.
  3. It distinguishes distinct pronunciations in vowels. You can find this useful in the French language. 
  4. The diaeresis indicates a stressed vowel.
  5. It indicates a break in the first and second persons of the plural of the imperfect tense for verbs with specific endings. This usage is in Galician. 

The diaeresis serves various purposes across languages worldwide. Some of which are not on this list because of the locality of the language. Regardless, these are general uses of the diaeresis accent in some of the major languages. But can you add the diaeresis on a QWERTY keyboard?

 

Conclusion

The diaeresis accent is different from the umlaut accent. The umlaut accent is specific to Germany, while the rest of the world that uses a similar symbol, uses the diaeresis. They perform two completely different functions. Regardless, they impact their specific language in some way, shape, and form. 

The umlaut may have its roots in Germany and Germanic languages but you can still access it on your Windows or iOS device. Our tool allows users to quickly and simply access accent marks. The diaeresis accent is not an excpetion. 


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