Inversion with je

Inversion avec le pronom « je »

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Inversion with the first person singular je is a little trickier than with other subject pronouns. It’s also very formal and therefore rare, so one of those grammar concepts you need to recognize but not necessarily use.

Regular -er Verbs

The je conjugation of -er verbs normally ends in e instable, but when it’s inverted, this is no longer the case: –e must be pronounced, and this is indicated by the addition of an accent. Traditionally, this was an acute accent (é).

Par exemple…

Pensé-je vraiment qu’il chante bien ?		Do I really think he sings well?
Parlé-je trop fort ?		Am I speaking too loudly?

However, since the final letter in the inverted verb conjugation is always pronounced [ɛ], in 1990 the Conseil supérieur de la langue française recommended using the more accurate grave accent (è) instead. So today, both accents are allowed.

Par exemple…

Pensè-je vraiment qu’il chante bien ?		Do I really think he sings well?
Parlè-je trop fort ?		Am I speaking too loudly?

 In addition, the e instable at the end of je is mute, so the pronunciation is in effect pensèj [pã sɛʒ] and chantèj [ʃã tɛʒ].

Other Verbs

Among verbs whose je conjugation doesn’t end in –e, inversion is only allowed with 10 very common ones:

aller	to go		vais-je
avoir	to have		ai-je
devoir	to have to		dois-je
dire	to say / tell		dis-je
être	to be		suis-je
faire	to make / do		fais-je
pouvoir	to be able to		puis-je*
savoir	to know		sais-je
voir	to see		vois-je
vouloir	to want		veux-je

Par exemple…

Ai-je bien compris ?		Have I understood correctly?
Dois-je tout faire moi-même ?		Must I do everything myself?

* Puis is a special conjugation of pouvoir that is found today only in je inversion.

Introduction: Inversion with pronouns

 Related Lessons

• Accents
• IPA
• Subject pronouns
• Verbs
• Word order with inversion

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