The French verb être means "to be." Like "to be" in English, être changes form depending on who you are talking about.
In English, "to be" becomes "am" in "I am" and "is" in "Paul is." In French, être changes in the same way:
| French | English |
|---|---|
| Je suis Julie. | I am Julie. |
| Paul est français. | Paul is French. |
Here, suis and est are different forms of the verb être.
Learn the forms of être
The form of être changes depending on the subject of the sentence. French uses subject pronouns such as je (I), tu (you), and elle (she) to show who the subject is.
Each subject pronoun is used with a particular form of être:
| French | English |
|---|---|
| je suis | I am |
| tu es | you are |
| il est | he is |
| elle est | she is |
| nous sommes | we are |
| vous êtes | you (plural) are |
| ils sont | they are |
| elles sont | they are |
The forms of être are quite different from one another, so learn each of the forms above together with its subject pronoun.
Build sentences with être
You can use être to identify people and give basic information about them:
| French | English |
|---|---|
| Je suis Julie. | I am Julie. |
| Tu es américain. | You are American. |
| Paul est français. | Paul is French. |
| Elle est Sofia. | She is Sofia. |
| Omar est anglais. | Omar is English. |
| Nous sommes Julie et Paul. | We are Julie and Paul. |
These sentences follow a simple pattern:
subject + form of être + information
The subject can be a pronoun such as je, tu, or elle, or a person's name such as Paul or Omar:
| Subject | Form of être | Information |
|---|---|---|
| Je | suis | Julie. |
| Tu | es | américain. |
| Paul | est | français. |
| Elle | est | Sofia. |
The form of être depends on the subject. The information that follows can tell you who someone is or give information about that person.
You will learn more about nationality adjectives such as français, américain, and anglais, including how their forms change, in future lessons.
Listening and reading
Listen and try to understand as much as you can before revealing the French text.
Listen again while reading the French.
Show the French transcription
Je suis Julie. Je suis française.
Il est Paul. Il est américain.
Elle est Sofia. Elle est anglaise.
Compare the English version with what you understood from the French.
Show the English translation
I am Julie. I am French.
He is Paul. He is American.
She is Sofia. She is English.
Put it together
You can now build a basic French sentence with a subject and a form of être.
In the next lesson you'll learn how to use adjectives with être to give more information about people and things.