J’oublie encore parfois l’accent aigu, alors que Marie oublie plutôt l’accent grave.

Because French normally uses elision before a vowel sound.

• je becomes j’ before a word like oublie
• So je oublie is not used
• The same thing happens in:
  • j’aime
  • j’habite
  • j’ai

So J’oublie simply means I forget.

Here, encore parfois means something like still sometimes or from time to time, even now.

• encore = still / again
• parfois = sometimes

Together, they suggest that this is a mistake the speaker continues to make occasionally.

So the idea is not just I sometimes forget, but more like I still sometimes forget.

They add slightly different ideas.

• parfois tells you the mistake happens occasionally
• encore adds that this is still happening, perhaps despite practice or expectation

So:

• J’oublie parfois... = I sometimes forget...
• J’oublie encore parfois... = I still sometimes forget...

Using both gives a more natural, nuanced meaning.

French usually uses the definite article with names of things like this.

So:

• l’accent aigu = the acute accent
• l’accent grave = the grave accent

In this sentence, the speaker is talking about those accent marks as categories or specific marks that get forgotten in writing. French often keeps the article where English might or might not.

They are two different French accent marks.

• accent aigu = acute accent → é
• accent grave = grave accent → è, and also à, ù in some cases

So the sentence is about forgetting which accent mark to write.

Examples:

• école has an accent aigu
• père has an accent grave

Here alors que means whereas or while, introducing a contrast.

In this sentence, it contrasts two people:

• I still sometimes forget the acute accent
• Marie, by contrast, tends to forget the grave accent

So alors que is not mainly about time here; it is about opposition or contrast.

No. It can have two main uses:

1. Time: while

   • Il lit alors que je cuisine can mean He reads while I cook

2. Contrast: whereas / while

   • Moi, j’aime le thé, alors que lui préfère le café
   • I like tea, whereas he prefers coffee

In your sentence, the contrast meaning is the important one.

Here plutôt means something like rather, more, or instead depending on context.

In this sentence, it softens and specifies the comparison:

• Marie oublie plutôt l’accent grave = Marie tends rather to forget the grave accent / Marie more often forgets the grave accent

It suggests that, compared with the speaker, Marie’s typical mistake is the grave accent.

It does not mean she forgets it every single time; it indicates a tendency.

French adverbs often come after the conjugated verb, especially adverbs like encore, parfois, souvent, etc.

So J’oublie encore parfois... is natural French word order.

That said, adverb position in French can be flexible, and small changes can shift emphasis:

• J’oublie parfois encore...
• Parfois, j’oublie encore...

These are possible, but J’oublie encore parfois... sounds very natural and balanced.

It is literally to forget, but in writing contexts English may naturally translate it as to leave out or to miss.

So:

• J’oublie l’accent aigu can mean I forget the acute accent
• In practical English, that often means I leave out the acute accent when writing

French uses oublier very naturally for this kind of mistake.

Aigu is the French adjective meaning acute.

It is pronounced approximately ay-gyoo, with French sounds:

• aigu → /egy/

A few useful notes:

• the g is a hard g sound here
• the u is the French u, not exactly like English oo
• the final u is pronounced

Likewise:

• grave is pronounced roughly grahv

So the terms are French vocabulary words, not English words used in a French sentence.

Yes: it is built as a comparison of contrasting habits.

Structure:

• J’oublie encore parfois l’accent aigu

  • main statement about the speaker

• alors que Marie oublie plutôt l’accent grave

  • contrasting statement about Marie

A natural pattern to notice is:

• Subject + verb + adverbs + object, alors que + subject + verb + adverb + object

This is a very common way in French to compare two people’s tendencies:

• Moi, je fais encore parfois cette erreur, alors que Marie fait plutôt l’autre.

So the sentence is useful not only for accent vocabulary, but also for learning how French expresses contrast between two people.