Learn the key pattern to talk about your nationality
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| Let’s take a closer look at the conversation. |
| Do you remember how Ms. Collin asks, |
| "Are you French?" |
| Êtes-vous française ? |
| First is êtes, "are" as in "you are" when using formal French. Êtes (enunciated). Êtes. |
| Êtes is from the verb être, meaning "to be." Être. |
| Next is vous, the formal word for "you." Vous (enunciated). Vous. |
| Note: in French when you ask a question, you often invert the standard subject-verb order. Here, the subject, vous, comes after the verb, êtes. When this happens, a hyphen is placed between the verb and the pronoun in written French. |
| After this is française, "French" as in a French person. Française (enunciated). Française. |
| Note: Française is feminine. |
| Ms. Collin uses a feminine adjective, française, to refer to Ms. Dumont. |
| If Ms. Collin was referring to a male, she would use the masculine adjective, français, to refer to him. As in Êtes-vous français ? "Are you French?" Êtes-vous français ? |
| All together, Êtes-vous française ? "Are you French ?" |
| Êtes-vous française ? |
| Let’s take a closer look at the response. |
| Do you remember how Denise Dumont (@alta-boss) says, |
| "Yes, I'm French." |
| Oui, je suis française. |
| This starts with the expression, oui, meaning "yes." Oui (enunciated). Oui. |
| It answers Ms. Collin's yes-or-no question, "Are you French?" |
| Êtes-vous française ? |
| Next is je. "I." Je (enunciated). Je. |
| After this is suis. "Am." Suis (enunciated). Suis. |
| Suis is from the verb être, meaning "to be." Être. |
| After this is française, "French" as in a French person. Française. |
| All together, Oui, je suis française. "Yes, I'm French." |
| Denise Dumont (@alta-boss): Oui, je suis française. |
| The pattern is |
| Je suis NATIONALITY. |
| I'm NATIONALITY. |
| Je suis NATIONALITY. |
| Simply replace the NATIONALITY placeholder with your nationality. |
| Note: the placeholder is an adjective, and its gender will depend on the speaker -- in this case you. |
| Imagine you’re Ms. Collin, and you're American. The word for an "American" woman is américaine. Américaine (enunciated). Américaine. |
| Say |
| "I'm American." |
| Ready? |
| Je suis américaine. |
| "I'm American." |
| Je suis américaine. |
| In the conversation, the response to the yes-no question was "yes." |
| In case the answer was "no," the corresponding French response would be non, meaning, "no." Non (enunciated). Non. |
| For example, if Ms. Dumont was asked, |
| Êtes-vous américaine ? |
| "Are you American?" |
| She could have answered, |
| Non, je suis française. |
| "No, I am French." |
| Remember this pattern. You’ll need it for the practice section. |
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