Moi, je m'appelle Marie. Et toi ?

Breakdown of Moi, je m'appelle Marie. Et toi ?

je
I
et
and
moi
me
toi
you (informal singular)
s'appeler
to be called

Questions & Answers about Moi, je m'appelle Marie. Et toi ?

Why is there an m' before appelle? Can't I just say J'appelle Marie?
S'appeler is a pronominal verb, meaning the action reflects back on the subject. Literally, Je m'appelle Marie means "I call myself Marie." If you say J'appelle Marie, it means "I am calling Marie" on the phone! The m' is short for me (myself), which drops its 'e' before the vowel in appelle.
Why do we start with Moi, je... instead of just Je m'appelle?
In French, it is very common to use a stressed pronoun like moi (me) to emphasize who you are talking about. It is like saying "As for me, my name is Marie." You can absolutely just say Je m'appelle Marie, but adding Moi makes it sound very natural in a conversational introduction.
Why is it Et toi ? instead of Et tu ? for "And you?"
Tu is a subject pronoun, which means it has to be connected to a verb (like Tu t'appelles). When a pronoun stands alone or follows a short word like et (and) without a verb, you must use the stressed pronoun toi.
Why does appelle have two L's here?
The verb s'appeler changes its spelling slightly depending on who is doing the action. For the je, tu, il, and elle forms, it takes a double L to make the 'e' right before it sound open, like the 'e' in "pet". When you learn the nous and vous forms, you will see it goes back to a single L.

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