Learn French: Moi, je m'appelle Marie. Et toi ? - Me, my name is Marie. And you?

Moi, je m'appelle Marie. Et toi ?

Me, my name is Marie. And you?

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

and

moi

toi

you (informal singular)

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?