Learn French: Je suis né dans cette ville.

Je suis né dans cette ville.

I was born in this town.

Breakdown of Je suis né dans cette ville.

Questions & Answers about Je suis né dans cette ville.

Why do we use suis instead of ai for the passé composé here?

The verb naître (to be born) describes a change of state. In the passé composé, verbs of motion and change of state use être (to be) as their helping verb instead of avoir (to have).

Since Je suis means "I am", doesn't Je suis né literally mean "I am born"?

Literally, yes! But French uses the passé composé tense to express "I was born". Since naître uses être as its helping verb, the passé composé is formed with the present tense of être (Je suis) plus the past participle (né).

Does né change if a woman is speaking?

Yes. When a verb uses être in the passé composé, the past participle has to agree with the subject. If a woman is speaking, she must add an e to make it feminine: Je suis née. It is pronounced exactly the same way, though!

Why is it cette ville instead of ce ville for "this town"?

Ville (town or city) is a feminine noun. To say "this" or "that" before a feminine noun, you must use the feminine form cette. For masculine nouns, you use ce (or cet before a vowel).