French Level 1
    Unit 10: Leçon 1
    Le Verbe "Être"
    Bonjour! In the last few leçons you have learned about MANY objects and verbs. What I am going to show you now is a new verb form that you have not yet seen. This, I believe, is one of the most important of all of the verbs that we have studied in this course. It is the verb "Être"!

    What is this magic verb you ask? And why is it so important? Because the verb être is the most used verb form in many language. It means, "to be". Read and Listen to the chart below:

    Track 90
    Le Verbe "Être"  
    EN FRANÇAIS EN ANGLAIS
    Je suis I am
    Tu es You are (familiar)
    Il est/Elle est He is/She is
    Nous sommes We are
    Vous êtes You are (formal)
    Ils sont/Elles sont They are (masc.)/They are (fem.)


    Être is a special kind of verb known as "irregular". The reason we call this verb "irregular" is that, unlike the majority of the -er verbs (which have definite "endings" for each pronoun that matches each of the eight prounouns) the forms of être ("suis", "es", "est", "sommes", "êtes", and "sont") do not end with any traditional "regular" verb endings. In addition, these endings don't really look much like the infinitive, or original form (être). The only form that resembles the original form of the verb "être" is the "vous" form: "êtes" (except the ending is "es" instead of "ez").

    Now go on to Leçon 2. I will be looking for you there!

Introduction / Leçon 1 / Leçon 2