Talking about emotions

French has everyday words for expressing happiness, sadness, fear, anger, surprise, and other emotional reactions.

Many emotions use être with an adjective, while others use expressions with avoir, such as avoir peur, or expressions such as être en colère.

Happiness and sadness

Several common adjectives describe whether someone feels happy or sad:

Use these adjectives with être:

Content is a common everyday way to say that someone is happy or pleased. Heureux can describe happiness more generally.

Fear and worry

French uses different expressions for fear, worry, and nervousness:

Use avoir peur as a complete expression. Inquiet and nerveux are adjectives used with être:

You can use avoir peur de to say what someone is afraid of:

Anger and irritation

A common expression for anger is être en colère. You may also hear adjectives for being angry, upset, or irritated:

You can use them to describe different emotional reactions:

The expression être en colère has the same form for everyone:

Surprise, excitement, and disappointment

Other common emotions describe how someone reacts to something that happens:

Use these adjectives with être:

From learning to practice

When you notice an emotional reaction during your day, try to recall the French word or expression for it. Pay attention to whether the emotion uses être, avoir peur, or être en colère.