Languages and occupation in French: je parle français, je suis étudiant

Level A1

Languages and occupation in French: je parle français, je suis étudiant

In this lesson, Léo and Mia meet at university and complete their introductions: nationality, what they do and the languages they speak. The central idea is this: after je suis, the nationality and the occupation come directly, with no un or une, and they agree with the person (brésilien, brésilienne; étudiant, étudiante); after je parle, the language comes with no article and no change.

What you already know

You already introduce yourself with je suis and a name: “Je suis Léo.” You say what you do with an -er verb: “Je travaille à la maison.” (travaille is the je form; à la maison, at home, is one block). And you use j' before a vowel: “J'ai vingt ans.” (I'm twenty). You have also met petit and petite: the -e shows in writing and the t becomes audible. And ici means “here”. In this lesson, the same je suis takes a nationality and an occupation, and parler takes a language.

New words

Brésilien and japonais are nationalities; here they appear in the form a man uses. Français, portugais and japonais, after parler, are the languages. Étudiant is a student, professeur is a teacher, un peu is “a little”, étudier is to study. Listen to each word and look at the spelling: after je suis and je parle, nationalities and languages take no capital letter, unlike in English: je suis brésilien, je parle français.

At university: Mia and Léo

Mia and Léo meet before class and call each other tu. Listen to the whole conversation and notice: Mia says japonaise and étudiante, with a final -e; Léo says brésilien and étudiant. Et toi ? is “and you?” between fellow students; to someone you call vous, it is Et vous ?. Aussi is “too”.

After je suis: nationality and occupation, no article

English says “I'm a student”; French drops the article: “Je suis étudiant.”, not un étudiant, and the same for nationality: “Je suis brésilien.” The word agrees with the speaker: a man says brésilien, japonais, étudiant; a woman says brésilienne, japonaise, étudiante. In writing, the feminine of these words adds -e (brésilien doubles the n); in speech, the final consonant becomes audible: the n of brésilienne, the z of japonaise, the t of étudiante. An occupation works the same way, also with no article; for someone else, use il est or elle est: “Il est professeur.” For a woman, both spellings, professeur and professeure, are used today and sound the same; in this lesson you only need to recognize them. Add an adjective and the article comes back (je suis un bon étudiant; about someone else, c'est un bon professeur); that is for another lesson.

Je suis nationalité / activité

After je parle: the language, no article

In these sentences the language comes right after parle, with no le: “Je parle français.”, as in English. (Je parle le français also exists; here we use the more common form.) The same word japonais is a nationality after suis and a language after parle: “Je suis japonaise.” changes with the person, but “Je parle japonais.” does not, because the language has no feminine. For two languages, join them with et; for “a little”, un peu goes before the language: “Je parle portugais et un peu français.” To ask, use tu parles with rising intonation, no do: “Tu parles français ?” For someone else, parle without s: “Léo parle portugais.”

Je parle langue

J'étudie: the student's verb

Étudier is an -er verb like travailler: j'étudie, tu étudies, il or elle étudie, and the three forms sound the same. Because it starts with a vowel, je becomes j': “J'étudie ici.”, as in j'ai. To ask: “Tu étudies ici ?” For someone else: “Mia étudie ici.” Careful: no article goes with parler; with étudier, the language takes le: j'étudie le français.

Your turn: complete your introduction

You are Ana, Brazilian, a student; you speak Portuguese and a little French and you study here. Before reading, try to say in French, in this order: your nationality, your occupation, your languages and where you study. Then check against the sentences and listen to each one. If you were a man, the first two would change: brésilien, étudiant.

Summary: he says, she says

In the last row, the choice of professeur or professeure for a woman is for recognition only. Languages are not in the chart: after je parle, français, portugais and japonais never change. And for what you do: j'étudie, with j' before a vowel.

A man: Je suis…A woman: Je suis…
brésilienbrésilienne
japonaisjaponaise
étudiantétudiante
professeurprofesseure
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