i'm confused here. why j'ai faim but not je suis faim?

Question

Cécile Janty-Davies · Accepted Answer

Hi Bay,
Indeed in French we use 'avoir' for thirst and hunger and also for ages.
e.g.
Ils ont vingt ans, cette année. 
(They are twenty this year.)
Le chat a soif.
(The cat is thirsty)
Nous avons faim, quand est-ce qu'on mange?
( We are hungry when are we eating?)
Hope this helps!

bay fans · Answer

Never mind, i just saw the answer in the notes. In French they use "to have" to express hunger but not "to be".

Gruff Davies · Answer

Hi Bay - the easiest way to 'get' this is that 'faim' actually means 'hunger' not 'hungry', so in French we say, in effect, "I have hunger". It's the same for thirst. Hope that helps!

gracelia damanik · Answer

Yes. Because faim and soif are feminine nouns, so it may be more suitable to use avoir, instead of etre, that should be followed by an adjective to describe the subject