Belgian AZERTY on the picture
Belgian keyboards use AZERTY like France’s, on ISO boards: A and Q, Z and W swapped, M next to L, digits on Shift. The picture follows Windows’ Belgian French layout. Dutch (Belgium) defaults to Belgian (Period), a separate, near-identical layout. What makes it Belgian is the symbols:
- The number row types & é “ ’ ( § è ! ç à, then ) and -. France has - and _ where Belgium has § and !.
- ² and ³ share the key left of 1.
- $ and * sit after ^, and µ and £ next to Enter.
- = and + sit next to right Shift, where French keyboards have ! and §.
Dead keys (^ ¨ on the key after P, ´ and ` on AltGr, ~ on AltGr+=) are marked in the table under this text, which lists every key that differs from a US keyboard.
AltGr on Belgian keyboards
AltGr carries @ # | and the brackets: @ on é, # on “, | on &, { } on ç and à, [ ] on ^ and $, \ on <. French AZERTY puts @ on AltGr+à and the braces elsewhere, so typing an email address is a quick check of which layout the computer uses.
Switching to Belgian
- Windows: Settings, Time & language, Language & region, add French (Belgium) or Dutch (Belgium) and check its keyboard is a Belgian one. Switch with Win+Space.
- macOS: System Settings, Keyboard, Text Input, Edit, +, Belgian.
- Linux (GNOME): Settings, Keyboard, Input Sources, +, Belgian.
The Belgian AZERTY keys at a glance
These keys differ from a US keyboard. The browser code is the name the key sends in the event log, taken from the US key in the same place. AltGr is the right Alt key; on Windows, Ctrl+Alt does the same. Keys marked "dead" type nothing on their own: press one, then a letter, for an accented letter (or Space for the mark itself).
| Key | Shift | AltGr | Browser code | US keyboard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ² | ³ | Backquote | ` | |
| & | 1 | | | Digit1 | 1 |
| é | 2 | @ | Digit2 | 2 |
| " | 3 | # | Digit3 | 3 |
| ' | 4 | { | Digit4 | 4 |
| ( | 5 | [ | Digit5 | 5 |
| § | 6 | ^ dead | Digit6 | 6 |
| è | 7 | Digit7 | 7 | |
| ! | 8 | Digit8 | 8 | |
| ç | 9 | { | Digit9 | 9 |
| à | 0 | } | Digit0 | 0 |
| ) | ° | Minus | - | |
| - | _ | Equal | = | |
| A | KeyQ | Q | ||
| Z | KeyW | W | ||
| E | € | KeyE | E | |
| ^ dead | ¨ dead | [ | BracketLeft | [ |
| $ | * | ] | BracketRight | ] |
| Q | KeyA | A | ||
| M | Semicolon | ; | ||
| ù | % | ´ dead | Quote | ' |
| µ | £ | ` dead | Backslash | \ |
| < | > | \ | IntlBackslash | none (ISO only) |
| W | KeyZ | Z | ||
| , | ? | KeyM | M | |
| ; | . | Comma | , | |
| : | / | Period | . | |
| = | + | ~ dead | Slash | / |