French

Verb Être in French: Use, Conjugation, Examples, Exercises

Verb etre in french and english with pronunciation and the conjugation chart

What is a verb

A verb is a word that expresses an action, an act, a movement, or a state. They refer to the activities done or experienced by people, animals, or things and their states of being.

Example:

  • Action: Karla eats eggs – Karla performs the action of eating. Verb: To eat.
  • Movement: Camille runs to the beach – Camille is going or moving towards the beach. Verb: To run.
  • Experienced: The baby is feed – The baby is experiencing the action of being fed. Verb: To feed.

The verb Être

The verb être means to be, it is used to express the characteristics, states, qualities, or location of people, animals or things, for example “Je suis une femme” – “I am a woman”, “il est en france” – “he is in france.”. Learning this verb is necessary to be able to build complete and basic sentences in French. 

This is a simple and complete guide that will help you understand quickly how this verb works.

Table of Contents

Present Tense Conjugation (Le Présent)

The verb “être” is irregular, so you’ll need to memorize its forms. Here is the complete conjugation for the present tense, the most common form you’ll use.

FrancésInglés
Je suisI am
Tu esYou are (singular, informal)
Il/Elle/On estHe/She/One is
Nous sommesWe are
Vous êtesYou are (plural, or formal singular)
Ils/Elles sontThey are

Examples of sentences with verb Être

  • Tu es fort. – You are strong.
  • Elle es jolie. – Sheispretty.
  • Vous êtes haut. – You are tall.
  • Il est petite. – He issmall.
  • Nous sommes heureux – We are happy.
  • Vous êtes fous. – You are crazy.
  • Ma soeur est a la France. – My sister is in France

Main Uses of the Verb Être

The verb être has several important uses. Seeing examples in a table will help you understand how it works in a sentence.

  • With attibutive sentences

The verb être is used to express characteristics or qualities about someone or something or where it is located, for example:

  • Il est bien. – He is fine.
  • Elle était en France. – She was in France.
  • Le ciel est bleu. – The sky is blue.

  • As an auxiliary verb of the verbs of movement or motion verbs

The verbs of movement, as their name indicates, express displacement from one place to another, there are 16 verbs of movement and some are: To go, to arrive, to leave, to run, etc. In French they are called “les verbes du mouvement”.

An auxiliary verb is a complementary verb, which is used to accompany another main verb.

  • Je suis venu. – I have come. Explanation: Suis (to be) and venu (to come) are two different verbs, to come is the main verb and to be is the auxiliary one.

More examples

  • Ils sont partis. – They have left / They are gone.
  • Tu es arrivé. – You have arrived.
  • Il est parti. – He has left / He is gone.

  • As an auxiliary verb of reflexive verbs

Reflexive verbs are verbs where the action ‘reflects back’ on the subject, an example can be “I dress myself”.

  • Je me suis lavé les mains. – I washed my hands (literally: I myself have washed the hand).
  • Elle s’est coupé la main. – She cut her hand (literally: She herself has cut the hand).
  • Tu t’es habillé rapidement. – You got dressed quickly.
  • Il/Elle s’est levé(e). – He/she got up.

Être in imperfect tense (l’imparfait)

The imparfait tense of être is used to describe actions or states that were ongoing, habitual, or descriptive in the past. Think of it as “was being” or “used to be.”

FrenchEnglish
J’ étaisI was
Tu étaisYou were
Il / elle étaitHe/she was
Nous étionsWe were
Vous étiezYou were
Ils / elles étaientThey were
  • J’étais ici hier. – I was here yesterday.
  • Vous étiez chez moi. – You were at my house.
  • Il était heureux. – He was happy.
  • Tu étais triste. – You were sad.
  • Nous étions là. – We were there.
  • Les chats étaient grands. – The cats were big.

Exercises

Test your knowledge of the verb “être” with these exercises.

Exercise 1: Fill in the Blank

Complete the sentence with the correct conjugation of the verb “être.”

  1. Tu ____ patient. (You are patient.)

  2. Elle ____ à l’école. (She is at school.)

  3. Nous ____ amis. (We are friends.)

  4. Ils ____ dans le parc. (They are in the park.)

Exercise 2: Translate to French

Translate the following sentences into French.

  1. I am tired.

  2. He is tall.

  3. They are in Paris.

  4. We are intelligent.

Answers

Exercise 1

  1. es

  2. est

  3. sommes

  4. sont

Exercise 2

  1. Je suis fatigué.

  2. Il est grand.

  3. Elles sont à Paris.

  4. Nous sommes intelligents.

[qsm quiz=9]
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