Un 2.1

The verb ‘être’ and the Present Tense

The verb ‘être’ is one of the most important verbs in the French language. It serves many purposes and has many forms. Here, we’ll look at its forms in the present tense.

Explanation

Exercises

Present Tense – Le présent

In French, the present tense indicative is used to describe general truths, habitual actions, actions already in motion, as well as anticipated actions in the near future. Several tenses in English can correspond to this tense.

e.g.

Je mange chaque matin.	I eat every morning.
Je mange.	I’m eating.
Je mange au restaurant demain.	I’m eating / I’ll eat in the restaurant tomorrow.

As such, be sure not to directly translate all instances of the English verb ‘be’ to the French verb ‘être’, especially when thinking of the English Present Continuous. Such direct translations would result in an impossible-to-understand sentence in French.

e.g.

Je suis enseignante.	I’m a teacher.
Je travaille fort.	I’m working hard.

The verb ‘être’ – Le verbe ‘être’

The verb ‘être’ is one of the most frequently-used verbs in the French language. The forms of ‘être’, when used on their own, can typically be translated into English with forms of the English verb ‘to be’.

e.g.

Ottawa est la capitale du Canada.

Ottawa is the capital of Canada.

The verb ‘être’ is irregular, meaning that its conjugations cannot be predicted based on a pattern.

Present Tense / Le présent – être
je	suis	nous	sommes
tu	es	vous	êtes
il elle on	est	ils elles	sont

The verb ‘être’ is one of only a few verbs in French whose ‘nous’ and ‘vous’ conjugations DO NOT end in ‘-ons’ and ‘-ez’ in the present tense.

This is.. - C’est / Ce sont..

The verb ‘être’ is often used with ‘ce’ to identify or define things, often translating to ‘this is/these are/that is/those are’. Both the 3^rd person singular and plural of ‘être’ are used in this way, depending on the number of the things identified. This usage works for identifying/defining both objects and people. This can also be used with an adjective to describe a previously mentioned thing or situation.

e.g.