Je suis vs. J'ai | French Q & A | Kwiziq French (2024)

FAQs

Je suis vs. J'ai | French Q & A | Kwiziq French? ›

J'ai = I have. Je suis = I am. That said, not always when you would say "I am" in English, is the French translation Je suis. The French say, e.g., I have 20 years (j'ai 20 ans).

'J'ai' is "I have", and 'je suis' is "I am", so they're used in those contexts. There are some unique uses in French, such as 'avoir' for age (j'ai ....

Remember to write je with a small "j" unless it is at the beginning of a sentence. Finally, before vowels, je becomes j', e.g.: j'aime (this is known as "elision"). tu: this is the 2nd person singular subject pronoun. It refers to the person being spoken to or written to.

“Je suis” can mean either “I am” from verb “être” or “I follow” from verb “suivre”. As in many languages including english, the verb “to be” is very irregular and the first person singular of the present of indicative happens to be identical to the verb “suivre”, despite completely different etymology.

You can only say “ Je suis fatigué “ ( don't forget the accent ). Fatigué is an adjective, whereas fatigue is a noun, so it has to be used with To be. Saying “j'ai fatigue” would mean “ I've got tiredness “!

Incorrect: Je suis bien. Correct: Je vais bien. This is a response to “How are you?” (“Comment vas-tu ?”) which typically gets a response “I am well.” The correct response “Je vais bien” indicates how you feel overall – health, life, etc.

Je vais être is “I am going to be” while je serai translates to I will be. You would use them in the same context as you would in English. Examples: Je vais être triste s'il part - I am going to be sad if he leaves.

So the perfect tense of aller (to go) is: je suis allé(e)- I went. tu es allé(e)- you went (informal) il est allé - he went.

You could also say je suis… (I am…) and then your name. In return, it's always polite to ask for the other person's name.

What's the difference between Je m appelle and Je suis? Je m'appelle means I call myself and can only be used to introduce yourself. Je suis can also be used to say, “my name is,” but, since it means I am, you can use it in several other scenarios.

When to use "nous nous" in French? ›

However, “nous” is also a reflective pronoun (meaning both “ourselves” or “each other between us”) – but only when used with “Nous” as a subject in formal or written French : Nous nous voyons. = We're seeing each other, we're seeing ourselves (formal).

“J'ai” is like “I have” and “je suis” is like “I am”. They can not really be used interchangeably in the same sentence, but some situations could be described either with one or the other, like you could say “I have an injury” or “I am injured”.

The Je suis Charlie slogan showed up all over the world in street art and graffiti, especially in Paris, as a tribute to victims of the terrorist attacks. In Paris, artists painted tributes, murals, and the slogan all over the city to remember the victims.

= Careful, it's hot! J'ai chaud. = It's hot in here, I'm feeling too hot. And yeah, we say “j'ai chaud” and not “je suis chaude“, because in colloquial French, Je suis chaud (masculine) means “I'm motivated.” While “Je suis chaude.” (feminine) means “I'm aroused.”

“J'ai” means “I have” it's a possessions and it describes what you have. So “J'ai faim” is saying that you are hungry, and “Je suis fatigué” means that you are tired. For example : “I am 16 years old” is, in French, “J'ai 16 ans” Because you actually have 16 years old, and you are not 16 years old.

J'ai froid = I'm cold, as in “I feel cold” because it's cold. Je suis froid = I'm a cold person. At heart, or in a social context. Can also mean “I'm not warmed up yet” in the context of a challenge or exercise.

J'AI FINI is conjugated with the auxiliary AVOIR ( TO HAVE), which means I HAVE FINISHED. JE SUIS FINI is conjugated with the auxiliary ETRE (TO BE), which means I AM FINISHED translated into french as : IT IS THE END OF ME !

Je suis triste. "I'm feeling sad."