“I’m a chosen” or “I’m chosen?”

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

The word “choose” is an irregular verb, which means its past participle form does not follow the regular rule of adding “-ed.” Instead, the correct past participle of “choose” is “chosen”, not “choosen.”

Many learners, especially beginners, might mistakenly add an extra “o” and say “choosen,” but this is incorrect.

According to standard dictionaries like the Merriam-Webster and the Oxford English Dictionary, “chosen” is first and foremost the past participle of the verb “choose.”

For example, Merriam-Webster defines “chosen” as “one who is the object of choice or of divine favor”. This usage is tied to the idea of being part of a group that has been selected.

How “chosen” is used as a past participle

In sentences, past participles often come after auxiliary verbs like “have” or “be.” For example:

• “I have chosen my favorite book.”
• “The winner was chosen by the judges.”

In these cases, “chosen” shows that the action of choosing has already happened.

“Chosen” as a noun

Interestingly, some past participles can also function as nouns. When we use “chosen” as a noun, it refers to someone or something that has been selected. For example:

• “I am one of the chosen.”
  This means that the speaker is part of a special group of people who have been selected.

Some dictionaries, like the Cambridge Dictionary, provide the noun definition for “chosen” as referring to a select or special group, especially in religious or spiritual contexts. For example, the phrase “the chosen” might refer to those believed to be selected by God. This means “chosen” is typically used in a collective sense. You’ll often see expressions like:

• “the chosen few”
• “one of the chosen”

Is saying “I’m a chosen” grammatically correct?

It is incorrect to say “I am a chosen” on its own. While “chosen” can function as a noun, it is typically used in a collective sense, meaning it refers to a group of people who have been selected, not an individual.

If you want to use it correctly, you would say “I am one of the chosen”, which means you are part of a group of people who have been chosen or selected.

The word “chosen” is usually paired with a specific group or context, like:

• “He is one of the chosen few.”
• “She belongs to the chosen.”

Using “a” before “chosen” is grammatically incorrect because “chosen” as a noun generally doesn’t refer to a single person. Instead, it is used to describe someone as part of a larger, selected group.

Rather, what you should have or say or even write and which is permissible in standard English is “I’m chosen”.

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Other verbs that follow this pattern include:

• “Bless” – The past participle is “blessed.” You can say, “He is one of the blessed,” meaning he is part of a group of people who are blessed.
• “Save” – The past participle is “saved.” You can say, “They are among the saved,” meaning they are part of a group who have been saved.

Correct pronunciation of “chosen”

The word “chosen” is pronounced as /ˈtʃoʊ.zən/. It has two syllables. The first part “cho-“ sounds like “chow” but with a shorter “o” sound, while the second part “-zen” rhymes with “pen.”

Some Nigerians tend to mispronounce “chosen” as /ˈtʃuː.zən/ or /ˈtʃuː.sen/. In these incorrect pronunciations, the “o” sound becomes too long or is pronounced as “u,” which makes the word sound unnatural.

To pronounce it correctly, remember that:

• The “o” in “chosen” is short, like in “go.”
• The second syllable “-zen” is pronounced softly, like the “zen” in “frozen.”