j'

See also: Appendix:Variations of "j"

Franco-Provençal

Pronoun

j'

1. apocopic form of je

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʒ‿/
• IPA^(key): (before unvoiced consonants (but see usage notes)) /ʃ‿/

• Audio (France (Toulouse)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

Pronoun

j’

1. 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, see usage notes for pronunciation)

Usage notes

• 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, thus producing a /ʃ/ sound, as in sheep:
  • Before voiced consonants:

    J'vais bien. ― Doing fine.

    J'descend tout de suite! ― Coming down!

  • whereas before unvoiced consonants:

    J'peux pas. (pronounced /ʃpø pa/) ― I can't.

  • It can furthermore assimilate with the following /s/ of the extremly common suis, sais and savais (especially in negations, when followed by the adverb pas) or completely vanish in the process in the case of sais pas (j'sais pas):

    Chais pas. (/ʃɛ pa/) (beside j'sais pas (pronounced /ʃsɛ pa/)) ― Dunno.

  • Note that the ch’ / ch- spellings are seldom used in any type of written content except if one wishes to emphasize the language register spoken, or if the form is itself part of a fixed expression (e.g., chais pas).

Related terms

French personal pronouns

number	person	gender	nominative (subject)	accusative (direct complement)	dative (indirect complement)	locative (at)	genitive (of)	disjunctive (tonic)1	emphatic reflexive
singular	first	—	je, j’	me, m’		—	—	moi	moi-même
	second	—	tu	te, t’		—	—	toi	toi-même
	third	masculine	il2	le, l’	lui	y	en	lui	lui-même
		feminine	elle	la, l’				elle	elle-même
		indeterminate	on3, l’on (formal), ce4, c’, ça	—	—	—	—	—	—
		reflexive	—	se, s’5		—	—	soi	soi-même
plural	first	—	nous	nous		—	—	nous	nous-mêmes
	second6	—	vous	vous		—	—	vous	vous-mêmes, vous-même6
	third	masculine	ils7	les	leur	y	en	eux7	eux-mêmes7
		feminine	elles					elles	elles-mêmes

¹ The disjunctive (tonic) forms are also used after an explicit preposition (de/d’, à, pour, chez, dans, vers, sur, sous, ...), instead the accusative, dative, genitive, locative, or reflexive forms, where a preposition is implied.
² Il is also used as an impersonal nominative-only pronoun.
³ On can also function as a first person plural (although agreeing with third person singular verb forms).
⁴ The nominal indeterminate form ce (demonstrative) can also be used with the auxiliary verb être as a plural, instead of the proximal or distal gendered forms.
⁵ The reflexive third person singular forms (se or s’) for accusative or dative are also used as third person plural reflexive.
⁶ Vous is also used as the polite singular form, in which case the plural disjunctive tonic vous-mêmes becomes singular vous-même.
⁷ Ils, eux and eux-mêmes are also used when a group has a mixture of masculine and feminine members.

Further reading

• “j'”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Neapolitan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /i/, /j/

Pronoun

j’

1. clitic form of jo, je, ie, io

   J’ t’amo

   I love you

   J’ te voglio bene assaje

   I want/love you very much

   J’aggio parlat' a tte

   I spoke to you