The verb être

By the end of this lesson you'll be able to use être (to be) with every subject pronoun to say who you are, where you are, and how you feel. You'll also be able to use c'est to point things and people out.

The most useful verb in French

Être means "to be". It's the most common verb in the language, and like "to be" in English, it's irregular: its forms don't follow a pattern, so you learn them by heart. You'll use the pronouns from the subject pronouns lesson with every form.

A few things to notice:

• The verb forms es and est sound the same, because both have a silent final consonant. As phrases, tu es and il est still sound different because of the pronoun.
• Ils sont and elles sont sound like il and elle plus sont: the s of ils and elles is silent before a consonant.
• Vous êtes links: the normally silent s of vous is pronounced, with a z sound, because êtes starts with a vowel. This linking is called liaison.
• On est uses the il/elle form, even though it means "we".

What you can say with être

Who you are. In the introductions lesson you saw that Je suis Paul is another way to give your name. Être also gives your job or status. Notice there's no word for "a": Je suis étudiant (I'm a student), not je suis un étudiant.

Where you are. Je suis à Paris (I'm in Paris). Tu es où ? (Where are you?) is very common in texts and on the phone.

How you are. Je suis fatigué (I'm tired), Je suis content (I'm happy). Describing words like these add an -e in writing when they describe a woman: Elle est fatiguée. You'll see why in later lessons.

C'est

C'est means "it is", "this is" or "that's". It's ce (this, that, it) plus est. You use it to point out or identify a person or thing: C'est Paul (That's Paul), C'est Paris ! (This is Paris!), C'est ici (It's here).

The apostrophe is another case of elision, which you met with je → j'. Small words like ce and je drop their final e before a vowel: ce + est becomes c'est, and je + habite becomes j'habite. With je suis nothing changes, because suis starts with a consonant.

C'est is also how French reacts to things: C'est bon ! (That's good! / That's fine!), C'est super ! (That's great!), C'est loin ? (Is it far?). In these quick comments the describing word stays in its basic form, so you don't need to worry about adding an -e.

Putting it together

Here's a short exchange at a language class, using several forms of être. Notice how tu es and vous êtes follow the same tu/vous rules you already know: the two students use tu with each other, and vous with the teacher.

• Salut, tu es étudiante ici ? (Hi, are you a student here?)
• Oui ! Et toi ? (Yes! And you?)
• Moi aussi. On est en retard, non ? (Me too. We're late, aren't we?)
• Bonjour monsieur. Vous êtes le professeur ? (Hello, sir. Are you the teacher?)

What's next

Next comes the numbers lesson, so you can give phone numbers and start talking about age. Then the lesson on countries and nationalities uses être straight away: Je suis canadien, Elle est française. Later, the lesson on c'est and il est explains when to say c'est and when to say il est.