Describe Yourself in French

Describing yourself is an important skill personally and professionally. You may wish to meet or date someone, get to know a friend better, or present yourself in a professional context. The rules for describing yourself in French are similar to how you would do it in English, but there are a few distinctions to be aware of. Using these guidelines you will have a basic structure that you can expand on to provide a more personalized description of yourself.

Steps

Describing your Personality

  1. Introduce yourself. The standard form of self-introduction in French is “je m’appelle” (zhuh mah-pell) which I means “I call myself.” For example, you might say “je m’appelle Robert.”
    • The French word for first name is “prenom” (prey–nom). You could say “Mon prénom est...” (mon prey-nom ey) which means “my first name is...”
    • The French word for surname is “nom de famille” (nohm dhe fah-mee). In a professional or commercial transaction if someone asks for your "nom" be sure to provide your last name rather than your first.
  2. State your age. In English you state your age as something you are, as in “I am fifteen,” but in French you use the auxiliary verb “avoir” which means “have.” You say “J’ai ... ans” (zhai ... ahn) which means “I have ... years.”
    • Consult a dictionary to find pronunciations of specific numbers.
    • You can also describe your age group more generally using the phrase “je suis” (zhe swee) followed by an adjective. “Jeune” (zhuhn) means young. “Vieux” (vee-euh) indicates an elderly man, while “vieille” (vee-ay) indicates an elderly woman. “Je suis jeune” means “I am young.”
  3. Describe your coloring. Many descriptive words used in English are actually borrowed from French. Brunette and blonde both mean the same thing in French, but they refer only to women. A man would be brun or blond – in both cases the final consonant should be barely pronounced. “Je suis blonde” means “I am blonde.”
    • You can also say “my hair is...” followed by a color. The phrase for this is “Mes cheveux sont...” (meh chuh-vuh son). Consult a dictionary for the appropriate color.
    • The same construction works to describe your eye color. You would say “Mes yeux sont ...” (mehz-yuh son) which means "my eyes are..." Note that in this case you pronounce the s at the end of “mes” because the next word begins with a vowel.
  4. Describe your overall physique. The words to describe beauty are “beau” (bo) for men or “belle” (bell) for women. Use the construction “Je suis” (zhe swee) followed by the adjective. “Je suis belle” means “I am beautiful” if you are a woman.
    • “Fort” (for) means strong, while “faible” (febl) means weak.
    • “Petit” (petee) for men or “petite” (peteet) for women means small or short.
    • “Grand” (grahn) for men or “grande” (grahnd) for women means large or tall.
  5. Indicate your state of mind. The phrase “je suis” (zhe swee) followed by an adjective can convey whether you are happy, sad or experiencing other feelings. Consult a dictionary to find precisely the adjective you want.
    • Content (cohn-tahn) means happy, while triste (treest) means sad. You would say "je suis triste" to convey "I am sad."
    • Fatigué (fah-tee-gay) means tired. You would say “je suis fatigué” to convey "I am tired."

Describing Your Activities

  1. State your occupation. The phrase “je suis” (zhuh swee) means “I am.” You should then follow it with the appropriate occupation. Note that the endings of words may change depending on whether you are a man or a woman. A dictionary can help you identify the appropriate suffix.[1]
    • Male occupations that end with “eur” (euhr) often change to “euse” (euhz) for women. For example, a massage therapist would be either a masseur or a masseuse.
    • Male occupations that end in “ier” (ee-ay) often add an extra e to become ière (ee-ehr) for women. A farmer would be either a fermier or a fermière.
    • Male occupations that end in a consonant may add an extra e to become feminine. For example, a male student is an “étudiant” (ay-tood-eeon) while a female student is an "étudiante" (ay-tood-eeont). Note that the final consonant is pronounced only in the female form.
    • Many occupations have only one form, regardless of gender, such as "professeur" which means teacher.
  2. Share your hobbies. As in English, the usual construction for describing a preference for an activity is to begin with a conjugated phrase such as “I like” or “I love” and follow it with an infinitive (unconjugated) verb, such as “to read” or “to sing.” Verbs are in general a single word ending in –er, -ir, or –re. A dictionary will list verbs in their infinitive form.
    • “I like” is “j’aime” (zhehm). "I love" is “j’adore” (zha-dor). “J’aime lire” (zhehm leer) means “I like to read.”
    • The words “ne” and “pas” on either side of the verb negate the phrase, indicating dislike. "I do not like" is “je n’aime pas” (zhe nem pah). “Je n’aime pas chanter” (zhe nem pas chan-tay) means “I do not like to sing.”
  3. Describe things you like. In English, when describing something you like, you do not use the article. You would say “I like cats.” To express this in French, however, you do use the article: “J’aime les chats” (zhem lay shah).
    • Mon (mohn) or ma (mah) are used as possessives, when you wish to indicate that you like something that belongs to you. Mes (meh) indicates a possessive plural.[2]
    • Mon is used when the noun is masculine, indicated in the dictionary by the letter m. “J’aime mon chat” means "I like my cat." Note that it does not matter if you are male, it matters that cat (chat) is a masculine noun.
    • Ma is used when the noun is feminine, indicated in the dictionary by the letter f. “J’aime ma tante” means "I like my aunt." Again, it matters that aunt is a feminine noun, not that you are a man or a woman.
    • Mes indicates a possessive plural noun, such as “my aunts” or “my cats.” You would say “j’aime mes tantes” or “j’aime mes chats.”
  4. Use an adjective. The phrase “je suis” (zhe swee) followed by an adjective can indicate your general interests. Note the suffix should change depending on whether you are a man or a woman. The dictionary typically lists the male version first and the female second. “Je suis sportif” (sporteef) for men or “je suis sportive” (sporteev) for women means “I am athletic.”[3]
    • If this is too challenging it may be easier to use the above recommendations for sharing hobbies, simply saying “I like sports” or “j’aime les sports.”
    • This construction also works to describe personality traits. For example gentil/gentille (zhantee/zhanteel) means nice. You would say “je suis gentil” if you are a man or "je suis gentille" for a woman.



Related Articles

Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ http://www.languageguide.org/french/grammar/gender/
  2. ↑ http://www.thefrenchexperiment.com/learn-french/possessive-adjectives.php
  3. ↑ http://www.languageguide.org/french/grammar/adjectives/

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