Je lève ma main droite.

I raise my right hand.

Breakdown of Je lève ma main droite.

• je: I
• ma: my
• la main: the hand
• lever: to raise
• droit: right

Questions & Answers about Je lève ma main droite.

Why is it Je lève and not something like Je me lève la main droite?

In French there are two different verbs:

• lever = to raise something (a direct object)
• se lever = to get up / stand up (reflexive)

In Je lève ma main droite, you are raising an external object (your hand), so you use lever with a direct object (ma main droite).

Je me lève means I get up / I stand up, not I raise my hand.
Je me lève la main sounds wrong: the reflexive me is not used here.

Is Je lève ma main droite something French people would actually say?

It is grammatically correct, but a bit unusual in everyday speech.

More natural options are:

• Je lève la main. – I raise my hand. (Most common in class, for example.)
• Je lève la main droite. – I raise my right hand. (If you really need to specify which hand.)

Using ma emphasizes my hand, but in French body parts are often introduced by la / le / les when the owner is already clear from the context or the subject.

So should it be ma main droite or la main droite?

Both are possible, but they feel slightly different:

• Je lève la main droite.
  Neutral, idiomatic; the listener understands it is your right hand because the subject is je.

• Je lève ma main droite.
  Still correct, but it can sound a bit heavier or more emphatic, as if contrasting with someone else’s hand or with another part of the body.

For everyday speech, la main droite is generally more natural.

Why is it main droite and not droite main?

In French, most adjectives come after the noun:

• une main droite – a right hand
• un livre intéressant – an interesting book

Some common adjectives (like petit, grand, jeune, vieux, beau, bon, mauvais, nouveau) often come before the noun, but droit / droite meaning right (as opposed to left) normally comes after: la main droite, le pied droit, l’œil droit.

Why is it droite (with an -e) and not droit?

Adjectives in French agree with the gender and number of the noun they describe.

• main is feminine singular: une main
• So the adjective must also be feminine singular: droite (add -e)

Examples:

• un pied droit (masculine)
• une jambe droite (feminine)
• des mains droites (feminine plural)
• des bras droits (masculine plural)

How do I know that main is feminine, and how does that affect the other words?

You must learn the gender with the noun: une main (feminine).

Because main is feminine:

• The possessive is ma main, not mon main.
• The adjective is droite, not droit.

So you get: ma main droite.

Compare:

• mon bras droit (bras = masculine)
• ma main droite (main = feminine)

How is Je lève ma main droite pronounced?

Roughly: [ʒə lɛv ma mɛ̃ drwat]

Key points:

• Je: sounds like “zhuh”.
• lève: è like in “bed”; final -e is pronounced.
• main: nasal vowel [mɛ̃] (like “meh” + air through the nose; you don’t fully pronounce the n).
• droite: “drwaht”; the oi sounds like “wa”, final -e is silent but keeps t pronounced.

There is no liaison between ma and main; you do not say [mamɛ̃] as one word.

What is special about the verb lever in je lève?

Lever is a regular -er verb, but it has a spelling change in the stem for some forms:

• je lève
• tu lèves
• il/elle/on lève
• nous levons
• vous levez
• ils/elles lèvent

The e in the stem becomes è (grave accent) in the forms where the spoken stress would otherwise fall on a weak e. The pronunciation helps keep the vowel open and clear: [lɛv] vs [ləvɔ̃].

What is the difference between main and bras?

• main = hand (from the wrist to the fingers)
• bras = arm (shoulder to wrist)

English speakers often say arm when they mean hand, but in French that distinction matters:

• Je lève la main. – I raise my hand.
• Je lève le bras. – I raise my arm.

In many contexts where you might say Raise your hand in English, French actually uses main, not bras.

Can I leave out the subject and just say Lève ma main droite for “I raise my right hand”?

No. In standard French, you normally must use the subject pronoun.

• Je lève ma main droite. – I raise my right hand.

Without je, Lève ma main droite is not a correct declarative sentence.

However, in the imperative (a command), you do drop the subject:

• Lève la main droite. – Raise your right hand. (talking to tu)
• Levez la main droite. – Raise your right hand. (talking to vous)

How would I say “I raise my hands” or “I raise both hands”?

Examples:

• Je lève les mains. – I raise my hands. (idiomatic; les usually implies “my” here since the subject is je)
• Je lève les deux mains. – I raise both hands.
• Je lève les mains en l’air. – I put my hands up in the air.

Using mes mains is possible (Je lève mes mains), but les mains is more common and natural when it is clearly your own body.

Does droit / droite here mean “correct” or “right-hand side”?

Here it means right-hand side, the opposite of left (gauche):

• main droite – right hand
• main gauche – left hand

For correct / right (answer), French usually uses other words:

• C’est juste. – That’s right / correct.
• C’est la bonne réponse. – That’s the right answer.
• Tu as raison. – You’re right.

How would I change this sentence to talk about someone else’s hand?

You change the subject and the possessive (or use the definite article if the owner is clear):

• Il lève la main droite. – He raises his right hand.
  (We understand it’s his, even though the word son is not used.)
• Il lève sa main droite. – He raises his right hand. (more explicit; can be slightly heavier)
• Je lève sa main droite. – I raise his/her right hand. (now the hand clearly belongs to a different person)

In many cases, French prefers the definite article (la main) over the possessive when the owner is clear from context.