Je becomes j' with verbs beginning with a vowel (elision)

Posted by Aurélie Drouard

In: Level A0, Verbs Tenses & Conjugation, Élision

Questions: 5

Look at these two examples:

Je suis grand.
I am tall.

J'ai vingt ans.
I am twenty.

J'habite à Londres.       

I live in London.

Notice that the pronoun je ('I' in English) becomes j' when used in front of verbs beginning with a vowel (a, e, i, o, or u) or a silent 'h'.

This contraction changes the pronunciation and is called elision.

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Marathuduwa gamage

Kwiziq community member

16 November 2017

2 replies

How to change je suis to j

Aurélie

Kwiziq language super star

17 November 2017

17/11/17

Bonjour !

"suis" doesn't start with a vowel, so you won't need to contract "je" here : it will always be "je suis".

However, you will use j' with verbs like : avoir, aimer, habiter, entendre, écouter, oublier, inventer, utiliser ...

I hope that's helpful!
À bientôt !

Lizbety

Kwiziq community member

8 October 2018

8/10/18

i understand now,thank you madam

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Advika

Kwiziq community member

7 July 2016

1 reply

J'ai neuf ans

Laura

Kwiziq language super star

22 July 2016

22/07/16

I find that hard to believe, but the grammar is perfect. :-)

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