Learn French: Je suis un homme.

Je suis un homme.

I am a man.

Breakdown of Je suis un homme.

Questions & Answers about Je suis un homme.

Why is the verb suis instead of être?

Être is the dictionary form of the verb, meaning "to be". Just like in English we say "I am" instead of "I to be", French verbs change their spelling to match the subject. Whenever you use je (I), the matching form is always suis.

Why do we use un here instead of une?

In French, every noun has a gender (masculine or feminine), and the words attached to it have to match. Homme (man) is a masculine noun, so it takes the masculine word for "a", which is un. If you were talking about a woman (femme), you would use the feminine version, une.

How do you pronounce un homme together? Is the "h" silent?

Yes, the "h" in homme is completely silent, so the word sounds like it starts with the vowel "o". Because of this, you slide the "n" sound from un right into the start of homme. This flowing connection is called a liaison, making the two words sound almost like "uh-nomme".

Is je always capitalized like the English word "I"?

No. In this sentence, Je is only capitalized because it is the very first word. Unlike English, the French word for "I" (je) is always written in lowercase when it appears in the middle of a sentence.