Introducing yourself: names, origins, tu and vous
Introduce yourself and ask someone where they come from.
Give a name with je m’appelle. Say where you are from with je viens de. Distinguish tu and vous.
Hear the lesson phrases
Google voice when available; device voice as a fallback.
Read the audio transcript
Je m'appelle Alex. Et toi ? Je m'appelle Camille. Tu viens d'où ? Je viens de Montréal. Moi, je viens de Lyon. Ravi de te rencontrer !
Give and ask for a name
Je m'appelle introduces your name. The apostrophe in m'appelle represents a missing vowel before another vowel. Keep the expression together: je m'appelle Alex, not je suis m'appelle Alex.
Comment tu t’appelles ? is a common informal question. A more formal written order is Comment t’appelles-tu ? Both ask for a name. For polite or plural address, use Comment vous vous appelez ?
Explain where you come from
Je viens de introduces an origin. Start with cities to keep the pattern simple: je viens de Lyon. Before a vowel sound, de becomes d’: je viens d’Ottawa.
Country names require some additional patterns: je viens de France, du Canada, des États-Unis. Learn those as complete phrases. Do not assume every country uses de plus its name.
Choose tu or vous
Tu addresses one person informally. Vous addresses more than one person, or one person politely. When meeting an adult in a service or formal setting, vous is often a useful starting point; people can invite a change to tu.
Et toi ? goes with tu; Et vous ? goes with vous. Use invented personal details if you prefer. The practice goal is to exchange information, not to disclose your identity.
Lesson vocabulary
Read each word aloud, then test your recall of its meaning.
| je m'appelle | my name is | |
| le prénom | the first name | |
| le nom | the name / surname | |
| je viens de | I am from | |
| tu | you (informal singular) | |
| vous | you (polite or plural) | |
| et toi ? | and you? (informal) | |
| ravi / ravie | pleased / delighted |
Practice questions
Answer the questions and read the explanations. You can repeat the exercises.
I can introduce myself. I can ask where someone is from. I can recognize polite and informal address.