You’ve seen it. It pops up in the middle of a New Yorker article or on a fancy bottle of Moët & Chandon, looking all sophisticated and slightly intimidating. It’s that little i with two dots, known formally as the diaeresis. People often confuse it with an umlaut, but honestly, they aren't the same thing at all. While an umlaut changes the sound of a vowel (think German), the diaeresis is there to tell you how to breathe.
It’s a tiny linguistic speed bump.
Most of us just breeze past it, but if you've ever tripped over the word "naive" or wondered why "cooperate" looks weird in some books, you've encountered the work of this tiny mark. It’s about separation. It tells your brain, "Hey, don't blend these two vowels together; they belong to different syllables."
The Difference Between the Diaeresis and the Umlaut
Let’s get the technical stuff out of the way because everyone gets this wrong. The i with two dots in English or French is a diaeresis. The word comes from the Greek diairesis, which literally means "division." Its entire job is to prevent a diphthong—that’s when two vowels merge into one sound, like the "ou" in "house."
The umlaut is a different beast entirely. It’s a German invention (mostly) that signals a sound shift. If you see a "ü" in a German word, the dots are actually a ghost of a tiny "e" that used to be written above the letter. It changes the "u" sound to something else.
But the ï? It doesn't change the sound of the letter. It just says "Start a new syllable here."
Consider the word naïve. Without those dots, a reader might try to rhyme it with "knave." That would be wrong. The dots force you to say "nah-eve." It’s a bit of old-school class that has survived the age of the internet, though barely.
Why The New Yorker Is Obsessed With It
If you read The New Yorker, you’ve probably noticed they write "coöperate" and "reëlect." It looks incredibly pretentious to most people. Why do they do it?
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Mary Norris, the magazine’s legendary "Comma Queen," has defended this practice for years. The magazine’s style guide is one of the few left that insists on using the diaeresis for any word where the same vowel repeats and starts a new syllable.
- In "cooperate," the two 'o's represent two different sounds.
- In "re-elect," the 'e's are separate.
Most publications just use a hyphen (co-operate) or just smash them together and trust the reader to figure it out. But The New Yorker treats the i with two dots—and its vowel cousins—as a matter of clarity. They argue that "cooperate" looks like it should rhyme with "goop," and the dots prevent that confusion. It’s a hill they are willing to die on.
Names and Places Where the ï Rules
You see the i with two dots most often in names. Think of the novelist Anaïs Nin. Without that diaeresis, her name would likely be pronounced "Ah-nays" by English speakers. The dots ensure it’s "Ah-nah-ees."
Then there’s the Brontë sisters. While that’s an 'e' with dots, it’s the same principle. Charlotte, Emily, and Anne didn’t want you saying "Bront."
In the world of luxury, Moët & Chandon is the big one. If you say "Mo-ay," you’re actually getting it wrong. The diaeresis over the 'e' (and the implied phonetics of the 't') means you should actually pronounce the 't'. It's "Mo-ett."
French is where the ï really lives its best life. Take the word maïs (corn). Without the dots, it’s mais (but). The dots are literally the only thing keeping you from telling someone you want to eat a side of "but" with your steak.
The Digital Struggle of the ï
Computers kind of hate the i with two dots.
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Back in the early days of the web, special characters were a nightmare. If you typed a "naïve" in a text field, it might come out as "naïve" or some weird string of gibberish. This is one reason why the mark is dying out in common usage. People are lazy, and finding the "Alt" code or long-pressing a key on a smartphone takes an extra half-second.
Most modern SEO practices actually tell writers to avoid it. Why? Because people don't type it into Google. Nobody searches for "naïve philosophy"; they search for "naive philosophy."
But there’s a counter-argument. Using the proper mark shows a level of authority and attention to detail. It tells the reader that you actually know your linguistics. It’s a signal of quality in a sea of AI-generated slop.
How to Actually Type It
If you want to use the i with two dots without looking like a tech novice, you need to know the shortcuts.
On a Mac, it’s easy: hold Option + U, then hit i.
On an iPhone or Android, you just hold down the 'i' key until the variations pop up.
On Windows, it’s the "Alt" code: hold Alt and type 0239 on the number pad.
Honestly, most people just copy and paste it from Wikipedia.
Is It Dying?
The English language is famously efficient—or lazy, depending on who you ask. We’ve already ditched most of our accents. We don't write "hôtel" anymore, and "rôle" lost its hat a long time ago.
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The i with two dots is the last holdout.
It survives because it actually serves a functional purpose in pronunciation that other accents don't. While "coöperate" feels like an artifact of the 1920s, "naïve" still feels incomplete without its dots. It’s like a tuxedo for a word.
We are seeing a weird split. In casual texting, the diaeresis is dead. In high-end journalism and literature, it’s a mark of prestige. It tells the reader, "We put effort into this."
How to Use the ï Without Being "That Person"
If you’re going to start using the i with two dots, you have to be consistent. Nothing looks worse than using "naïve" on page one and "naive" on page three.
- Check your brand. If you're writing a technical manual for a software company, leave the dots out. It'll just confuse the code.
- Respect the source. If you are writing about someone whose name includes the letter, like Anaïs, always use the dots. Dropping them is basically misspelling their name.
- Don't overdo it. You don't need to put a diaeresis on every vowel pair. Stick to the ones where the pronunciation is actually confusing.
The i with two dots is a small but mighty part of our written history. It's a reminder that language isn't just a way to dump data from one brain to another; it's an art form. It's about rhythm. It's about making sure the person reading your words hears the same music in their head that you did when you wrote them.
Next time you see those two little dots, don't just ignore them. They are there to help you breathe. Take the pause. Separate the sounds.
Start by auditing your own writing or brand materials. If you’re using words like "naive" or "noel," try adding the diaeresis and see how it changes the "feel" of the text. It’s a simple way to elevate your prose and stand out in a world of simplified, automated content. Just remember to keep your keyboard shortcuts handy.