Rosetta Stone Language Software

I... yo, it's me!

Spanish for "I" is yo (yo) - just think, "Yo, it's me!"

Italian for "I" is io (ee-oh) - not that different.

French for "I" is je (zhuh). Try it: "Je, it's me!" Okay, it's stupid. But it might be enough to help you remember.

Note that while Usted and Lei are capitalized, none of the words for "I" are.

For the curious, the Latin for "I" is ego. You can see that the Spanish and Italians just say it too fast: ego (ay-go) becomes eo (ay-oh) then Italian io (ee-oh), then Spanish yo.

Here's what happened to French: ego (ay-go) becomes eo (ay-oh), gets pronounced ay-yo, then ay-jo before becoming Old French jo (joe). This clear and distinct syllable was difficult to mumble, so in early modern French it became "je" (zhuh).