j'
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See also: Appendix:Variations of "j"
French[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Pronoun[edit]
j’ m or f
- clitic form of je
- J’ai sommeil. ― I’m sleepy.
- J’habite à Paris. ― I live in Paris.
- J’veux pas savoir. ― I don't wanna know. (informal, short for "Je ne veux pas savoir.")
- J’comprends. ― I understand. (informal)
Usage notes[edit]
- Je in formal French only becomes j’ before a vowel or an unaspirated h, where this is mandatory in spelling.
- In informal French, j’ may optionally be used before consonants, and devoices before unvoiced consonants.
- Before consonant, the informal j’ is widely pronounced ch.
- Chais pas. (j'sais pas) ― Dunno.
- Ch'peux pas. ― I can't.
Related terms[edit]
French personal pronouns
| Number | Person | Gender | Nominative (subject) |
Accusative (direct complement) |
Dative (indirect complement) |
Locative (at) |
Genitive (of) |
Disjunctive (tonic) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | First | — | je, j’ | me, m’ | — | — | moi | |
| Second | — | tu | te, t’ | — | — | toi | ||
| Third | Masculine | il | le, l’ | lui | y | en | lui | |
| Feminine | elle | la, l’ | elle | |||||
| Indeterminate | on1 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| Reflexive | — | se, s’4 | — | — | soi4 | |||
| Plural | First | — | nous | nous | — | — | nous | |
| Second | — | vous2 | vous2,3 | — | — | vous2 | ||
| Third | Masculine | ils3 | les | leur | y | en | eux3 | |
| Feminine | elles | elles | ||||||
- 1 Also used as the first person plural.
- 2 Also used as the polite singular form.
- 3 Also used when a group has both men and women.
- 4 Also used as third person plural reflexive.
Further reading[edit]
- “j'”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Neapolitan[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Pronoun[edit]
j’