I am born

[littlemousewithcrocson]

I keep noticing this. Is it an Americanism via Italian or Spanish?
I’ve never heard any British person say “I am born in 1978”, for example.

I’ve never seen it, and don’t know about Spanish or Italian, but if I remember rightly (and O level was early 50 years ago) that’s a direct translation of how you would say it in French.

Je suis né(e).

Exactly this.

I've never seen or heard it from any English speaker regardless of country of origin

Isn't that "I was born"? Past perfect tense - être/avoir + past participle.

It is, but I have heard a lot of french speakers do a word for word translation and say I am born in English.

That’s what I was thinking - in Italian it’s the same (sono nato/a) and wondered if there was a link.

I wish I could remember where I’ve heard it. I’ll keep an ear out and post when I find it.

I know sono nata/o in Italian. Is je suis the French for I am? What's French for I was? J'etais? Sorry, can't do the accent with this keyboard.

Maybe they've been reading David Copperfield

Yeah that’s the first line in David copperfield 😬😂

Not quite. Thats the chapter title. He then goes on to use the conventional phrase:
CHAPTER 1. I AM BORN.
Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show. To begin my life with the beginning of my life, I record that I was born (as I have been informed and believe) on a Friday, at twelve o'clock at night.

Yes je suis is I am and j'étais is I was, but the construction for I was born in french is je suis née not j'étais née.

It's not an Americanism.