Être (to be) in French

In Brief

Être is the irregular French verb meaning “to be.” Its present-tense forms are je suis, tu es, il/elle/on est, nous sommes, vous êtes, ils/elles sont. Use it to identify and describe people or things, state origin and profession, tell the time, and build many expressions you will meet every day.

Overview

Être is one of the most important verbs in French. You need it to say who someone is, where someone comes from, what something is like, or what time it is: Je suis Léa, Il est belge, Nous sommes prêts, Il est huit heures. It is also used in the very common expression c'est (“it is,” “this is,” or “that is”).

This is an A1 topic, but être is irregular: its forms do not follow one reusable pattern. The best approach is to learn the whole present-tense set as a small group. Unlike English, French normally changes the verb form for each grammatical person (the speaker, the listener, or the person or thing being discussed).

English often uses “to be” in continuous verb forms such as “I am working.” French does not normally copy that structure: Je travaille can mean both “I work” and “I am working.” Use être when it genuinely expresses being, identity, or a state—not simply because English has “am,” “is,” or “are.”

How It Works

The present-tense forms

The infinitive (the dictionary form of a verb) is être. Its present tense must be memorized:

Person	French	English
first-person singular	je suis	I am
second-person singular	tu es	you are (informal, singular)
third-person singular	il est	he/it is
third-person singular	elle est	she/it is
third-person singular	on est	one is / we are (common in speech)
first-person plural	nous sommes	we are
second-person plural	vous êtes	you are (plural or formal singular)
third-person plural	ils sont	they are (masculine or mixed group)
third-person plural	elles sont	they are (all-feminine group)

The accent in êtes matters. It distinguishes the written form and should not be omitted. Also keep et (“and”), es (“are”), and est (“is”) separate: they may look similar, but they do different jobs.

Basic sentence pattern

The subject (the person or thing the sentence is about) comes before the correct form of être:

subject + être + information about the subject

• Je suis étudiant. — I am a student.
• Tu es calme. — You are calm.
• Cette rue est étroite. — This street is narrow.
• Mes voisins sont français. — My neighbors are French.

That final information can be a noun, an adjective, a place phrase, or another identifying expression.

Identity and introductions

Use être to identify someone or say what someone is:

• Je suis Maya. — I am Maya.
• C'est mon collègue. — This is my colleague.
• Qui êtes-vous ? — Who are you?

For an introduction with a noun, c'est is often more natural than il est or elle est: C'est Marie and C'est une amie.

Origin and nationality

To say where someone comes from, use être de followed by a place:

• Je suis de Paris. — I am from Paris.
• Nous sommes du Canada. — We are from Canada.

To state nationality, use an adjective. French nationality adjectives can change for gender and number:

• Il est français. — He is French.
• Elle est française. — She is French.
• Ils sont français. — They are French.
• Elles sont françaises. — They are French.

Professions and roles

After être, an unmodified profession normally has no article (un, une, le, la):

• Elle est médecin. — She is a doctor.
• Nous sommes ingénieurs. — We are engineers.

This differs from English, which requires “a” in the singular. If the profession is modified or presented with c'est, an article is normal:

• C'est une excellente médecin. — She is an excellent doctor.
• C'est un ingénieur expérimenté. — He is an experienced engineer.

Descriptions and adjective agreement

An adjective (a word that describes someone or something) used after être agrees with the subject in gender and number. The exact spelling depends on the adjective, but a common pattern adds -e for feminine and -s for plural:

Subject	Example	Meaning
masculine singular	Paul est fatigué.	Paul is tired.
feminine singular	Lina est fatiguée.	Lina is tired.
masculine or mixed plural	Ils sont fatigués.	They are tired.
feminine plural	Elles sont fatiguées.	They are tired.

Some adjectives have irregular forms, so agreement is a larger topic of its own. The beginner rule is simple: always check who or what the adjective describes.

Negation

To make a basic negative sentence, place ne before the verb and pas after it:

• Je ne suis pas prêt. — I am not ready.
• Elle n'est pas ici. — She is not here.
• Nous ne sommes pas en retard. — We are not late.

Ne becomes n' before a vowel sound, as in n'est. In everyday speech, French speakers often omit ne (Je suis pas prêt), but keep the full ne ... pas pattern in careful speech and standard writing.

Questions

French offers several common question patterns:

• Rising intonation: Tu es libre ? — Are you free?
• Est-ce que: Est-ce que vous êtes prêts ? — Are you ready?
• Inversion: Êtes-vous prêt ? — Are you ready?

Inversion joins the verb and subject pronoun with a hyphen. It is common in formal or careful language. Notice the fixed expression Quelle heure est-il ? (“What time is it?”), not a word-for-word copy of English order.

Telling the time

Use il est before clock time:

• Il est une heure. — It is one o'clock.
• Il est trois heures et demie. — It is half past three.
• Quelle heure est-il ? — What time is it?

Use singular heure only with one o'clock; other hours take plural heures.

C'est and il/elle est

Both can translate English “it is” or “he/she is,” but they are not interchangeable.

Use	Prefer	Example
introducing or identifying a person/thing with a noun	c'est + noun/determiner	C'est ma sœur.
making a general comment	c'est + adjective	C'est intéressant.
describing a known masculine subject	il est + adjective	Le film ? Il est intéressant.
describing a known feminine subject	elle est + adjective	La ville ? Elle est calme.
stating an unmodified profession	il/elle est + profession	Elle est architecte.

For plural identification, standard French uses ce sont: Ce sont mes clés (“These are my keys”). In informal speech, you may also hear singular c'est before a plural noun, but ce sont is the safer form in careful French.

Examples in Context

French	English	Note
Je suis de Paris.	I am from Paris.	Origin with être de
Tu es très patient.	You are very patient.	Informal singular tu
Ma sœur est avocate.	My sister is a lawyer.	No article before an unmodified profession
Nous sommes fatigués.	We are tired.	Mixed or masculine plural agreement
Vous êtes en avance.	You are early.	Vous may be plural or formal singular
Elles sont canadiennes.	They are Canadian.	Feminine plural agreement
Je ne suis pas disponible demain.	I am not available tomorrow.	Negation around suis
Est-ce que vous êtes français ?	Are you French?	Neutral question pattern
Quelle heure est-il ?	What time is it?	Fixed time question
Il est neuf heures moins le quart.	It is quarter to nine.	Clock time with il est
C'est beau ici.	It is beautiful here.	General comment with c'est
C'est notre nouvelle professeure.	This is our new teacher.	Identification with a noun phrase
Le café est fermé, mais la boulangerie est ouverte.	The café is closed, but the bakery is open.	Adjectives agree with their subjects
Ce sont mes voisins.	These are my neighbors.	Plural identification with ce sont

Common Mistakes

Using the infinitive instead of a conjugated form

• Wrong: Je être content.
• Right: Je suis content.
• Why: After a subject, use the matching present-tense form. Être is the dictionary form, not the form used here.

Copying English continuous forms

• Wrong: Je suis travailler maintenant.
• Right: Je travaille maintenant.
• Why: French normally uses the simple present where English uses “am/is/are + -ing.” A conjugated être cannot be followed directly by an infinitive to create a continuous tense.

Adding an article before a profession

• Wrong: Elle est une médecin.
• Right: Elle est médecin.
• Why: A profession directly after être normally has no article when it is simply stated. Use C'est une médecin for identification, or an article when the noun is modified: Elle est une médecin remarquable.

Forgetting adjective agreement

• Wrong: Sophie est fatigué.
• Right: Sophie est fatiguée.
• Why: The adjective agrees with the feminine subject Sophie.

Using il est before an identified noun

• Wrong: Il est mon frère.
• Right: C'est mon frère.
• Why: Use c'est to identify someone with a noun phrase. Use il est to describe him: Il est sympathique.

Confusing sont and son

• Wrong: Ils son prêts.
• Right: Ils sont prêts.
• Why: Sont is a form of être; son means “his” or “her” before a singular noun, as in son livre.

Usage Notes

French subject pronouns are usually expressed, even though the verb ending gives some information. Do not routinely drop je, tu, il, or the other pronouns as you might in Spanish or Italian. Commands are a separate case, but ordinary statements need a subject.

In conversation, on est very often means “we are,” alongside the more formal or emphatic nous sommes. Even when on refers to several people, the verb remains singular: On est prêts (“We are ready”). The adjective may reflect the actual people meant; spelling conventions depend on the group's gender.

Pronunciation deserves attention. The final consonants of suis, est, and sont are normally silent when the forms stand alone. In vous êtes, the final s of vous links to the following vowel sound; this linking sound is called liaison: roughly vou-z-êtes. In ils sont, the final s of ils is likewise linked before sont: roughly il-z-sont. Learn these as whole spoken chunks rather than reading every written letter aloud.

Beyond the Basics: Later Uses of Être

You do not need to master these uses at A1, but you will see them frequently as your French develops.

Être as an auxiliary in compound tenses

An auxiliary is a helping verb used to build another tense. Some verbs form the passé composé (a common past tense) with être plus a past participle (a verb form such as allé or arrivée):

• Elle est arrivée hier. — She arrived yesterday.
• Nous sommes partis tôt. — We left early.

All pronominal verbs—verbs used with me, te, se, nous, or vous—also take être in compound tenses: Ils se sont levés. With this auxiliary, the past participle often agrees with the subject, though advanced agreement rules include exceptions.

Other tenses and moods

The stem changes again in other forms: j'étais (“I was”), je serai (“I will be”), je serais (“I would be”), and que je sois (“that I be/may be”). The last is the subjunctive, a verb form used after certain expressions of necessity, emotion, doubt, and possibility. These are separate grammar topics; for now, recognize that the present forms do not predict every later form.

Il est versus c'est in style and evaluation

The beginner contrast—c'est + noun, il/elle est + adjective—covers most everyday needs, but real French is more flexible. C'est can comment on an entire situation: Tu viens demain ? C'est parfait ! (“You're coming tomorrow? That's perfect!”). Il est + adjective + de + infinitive is common in more formal impersonal statements: Il est important de vérifier (“It is important to check”). Everyday speech often prefers C'est important de vérifier.

Fixed expressions

French also uses être in expressions whose English equivalent may use a different structure:

• être en retard — to be late
• être d'accord — to agree
• être en train de + infinitive — to be in the middle of doing something
• être à quelqu'un — to belong to someone: Ce livre est à moi.

The expression être en train de can emphasize an action currently in progress—Je suis en train de cuisiner—but it is more marked than the ordinary present Je cuisine. Do not use it automatically every time English has “-ing.”

Practice Tips

1. Learn the forms in contrasts. Recite short pairs such as je suis / nous sommes, tu es / vous êtes, and il est / ils sont. Then replace the pronouns with real names or nouns.
2. Build four useful mini-introductions. Say your name, origin, profession or role, and current state: Je suis Alex. Je suis de Londres. Je suis designer. Je suis fatigué. Adjust adjective endings to fit you.
3. Sort sentences by pattern. When you meet être, label its job: identity, origin, profession, description, time, or fixed expression. Also collect examples of c'est beside examples of il/elle est so the contrast becomes automatic.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Subject Pronouns — learn the words that select forms such as suis, es, est, sommes, êtes, and sont.