né
/ne/
The French word for 'born' is né.
The word né is an adjective used to describe someone who has been given birth to.
Meaning: given birth to (adj)
How does it change in a sentence?
The form of the word changes to agree with the gender and number of the subject: né is the masculine singular, née is the feminine singular, nés is the masculine or mixed-gender plural and nées is the feminine plural. Additionally, when expressing that someone 'was born', you must use the auxiliary verb être (to be) rather than avoir (to have).
How do you pronounce it?
/ne/
Did you know?
- The spelling of née for a woman is the same as the English word 'née', which is used in English to introduce a woman's maiden name.
- The expression né dans sa peau literally means 'born in one's skin' and is used to describe someone who is completely comfortable and confident in who they are.
- Because né comes from the Latin root gnātos, it shares a distant family tree with the English word 'kin', both relating to the concept of being begotten.
Examples in context
- Je suis né là.I was born there.Tatoeba #1246591 by sacredceltic, translation #1211854 by CM
- Où es-tu née ?Where were you born?Tatoeba #1619334 by sacredceltic, translation #687674 by lukaszpp
- Es-tu né ici ?Were you born here?Tatoeba #4579626 by sacredceltic, translation #3177205 by Hybrid
- Je suis venu(e) au monde le [Date].I came into the world on [Date].
- Ma naissance a eu lieu le [Date].My birth took place on [Date].
- Je suis né(e) le [Date], ça fait [Number] ans maintenant.I was born on [Date], that was [Number] years ago.
- Je suis né(e) le [Date] dans la belle province de Québec.I was born on [Date] in the beautiful province of Québec.
- Je suis né(e) le [Date] dans la belle région de [Region].I was born on [Date] in the beautiful region of [Region].
- 584 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Hugo and Emma are talking about their hometowns.
- HugoJe suis né à Paris.I was born in Paris.
- EmmaC'est super ! Moi, je suis née à Lyon.That's great! I was born in Lyon.
- HugoTu as toujours habité là-bas ?Have you always lived there?
- EmmaNon, j'ai déménagé quand j'étais petite.No, I moved when I was little.
Sources
- Pronunciation: Wiktionary entry né, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries né, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
