🌟 The verb être in the present

📖 In short

The verb être means “to be”, and it's one of the most important French verbs: we use it to describe ourselves and things, like Je suis content (I am happy). It's irregular, so we learn it by heart.

🔎 The lesson

1 Present tense

Pronoun	Verb
je	suis
tu	es
il / elle	est
nous	sommes
vous	êtes
ils / elles	sont

2 Examples

Je suis grand.I'm tall.
Tu es gentille.You're kind.
Elle est à l'école.She's at school.
Nous sommes amis.We're friends.
Ils sont fatigués.They're tired.

3 We never leave it out

Arabic can say “I happy” with no verb, but French always needs it: Je suis content, not Je content. We also use it to say someone's job: Mon père est médecin. (My father is a doctor).

💡 Watch out!

il est (he is) sounds like et (and), but they're spelled differently and mean different things.

🧩 Test yourself

1 Nous ... contents.

2 Tu ... ma sœur.

3 Les chats ... noirs.

→ Sound-alike words: a / à and et / est ← The verb avoir in the present