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Je reçois un message pour une naissance.

Je reçois un message pour une naissance.
I receive a message for a birth.
From Lesson 91:High-frequency irregular verbs (vivre, recevoir)·French

Questions & Answers about Je reçois un message pour une naissance.

Why does reçois have a cedilla (the little hook under the c)?
Reçois comes from the irregular verb recevoir (to receive). In French, the letter c makes a hard 'k' sound before a, o, or u. To keep the soft 's' sound of the infinitive, we must add a cedilla (ç) before the o in reçois.
Do all the present tense forms of recevoir use the ç?
Not all of them! You only need the ç when the ending starts with o or u. So you use it for je reçois, tu reçois, il/elle reçoit, and ils/elles reçoivent. But for nous recevons and vous recevez, the c is followed by an e, which naturally makes a soft 's' sound without needing a cedilla.
How is the French word message pronounced compared to the English word?
Even though it is spelled exactly the same, it sounds different. In French, the a sounds like 'ah' and the ge ending makes a soft 'zh' sound (like the 's' in 'measure' or 'vision'). It does not have the hard 'j' sound you hear in the English word.
Is naissance related to the verb for 'to be born'?
Yes! Naissance means 'birth', and it is the noun form of the irregular verb naître (to be born). You might remember its past participle né from earlier lessons, which is used in phrases like je suis né (I was born).

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