Mastering Self-Description in French

If you're just starting out learning French, one of the first things you'll be asked to do is to describe yourself. Whether you're learning to say your name, express your state of being or use adjectives to describe yourself, this is the most basic of tasks when speaking French.

Describing How You Look

Start off with "je suis..." (zuh swee), which means "I am." This is similar to English and the French sentence would be constructed the same way. However, in French, if you are a female, you must use the feminine ending of the adjective. In the adjective charts below, the feminine form of the word is listed second.

Physical Appearance

Consider some of these adjectives to express your physical attributes.

Examples

• Male: Je suis petit.
• Female: Je suis jolie.
• Male or Female: Je suis jeune. (Not all adjectives have differentiated male and female endings.)

Eye Color

To describe your eye color in French, you start with the phrase "j'ai les yeux..." (zhay layz yuh...) and follow by a color in the chart below. French word order is different; the color goes after the noun.

Examples

• J'ai les yeux bleus.
• J'ai les yeux noisette.

Note: In this case, some of the adjectives are plural and must have an 's' on the end while others do not. The general rule of thumb is that names of flowers, fruits or jewels used to define a color are the same whether they are describing a masculine, feminine or plural noun. In the example above, marron as a noun is a chestnut, and noisette is a hazelnut.

Describing Your Personality

You can use the same structure to describe your personality as you did your physical appearance. To start, use "je suis..." If you are female, make sure you use the feminine form of the adjective.

Examples

• Male: Je suis fou.
• Female: Je suis contente.
• Male or female: Je suis sympathique.

Expressing How You Feel

Similar to describing your personality, you will start off using "je suis..." As noted below, not all adjectives have a different feminine form, but if they do, it is listed second.

Examples

• Males: Je suis heureux.
• Females: Je suis nerveuse.
• Male or female: Je suis triste.

State of Being and Avoir

Sometimes, you might want to describe a need or how you're feeling in a given situation. In French, a lot of these phrases take the verb "avoir," which means "to have." In other words, in French, rather than saying "I am afraid" like you would in English, you say "I have fear." To say "I have," use "j'ai..." (zhay). These do not need to be changed if you are female.

Examples

• J'ai peur.
• J'ai faim.

Basic Introductions

While introducing yourself isn't exactly describing yourself, these are phrases that would come up if someone ever asked you to talk about yourself.

Speaking With Confidence

Once you master some basics, do your best to introduce yourself with confidence. You'll find, for the most part, that French people are very gracious in helping you learn their language. The old adage rings true - practice makes perfect. So practice as often as you can, and soon you'll find you can introduce and describe yourself with ease. Bonne chance!