être
Bourbonnais-Berrichon
Etymology
From Old French estre, from Latin sum.
Conjugation
| infinitive | être | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| gerund | étant | ||||||
| auxiliary | être | ||||||
| past participle | masculine | feminine | |||||
| singular | étâ | étée | |||||
| plural | étâ | étée | |||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| 1st person | 2nd person | 3rd person | 1st person | 2nd person | 3rd person | ||
| indicative | i | tu (t') | i (il), èle, soé, ça | nous (n') | ous | i (il), èles | |
| present | su | es | ét | sons | essez | sont | |
| imperfect | essi | essôs | essôt | essians | essiez | essiant | |
| preterite | fus | fus | fut | fumes | fûtes | furont | |
| future | serai | seras | sera | serons | serez | seront | |
| conditional | seri | seris | serit | serions | seriez | seriont | |
| subjunctive | que je (j') | que tu (t') | qu'ai (el), qu'ale | que je (j') | que vos | qu'ai (el), qu'ales | |
| present | siye | siyes | siye | siyons | siyez | siyont | |
| imperfect | fusse | fusses | fusse | fussions | fussiez | fussiont | |
| imperative | — | tu | — | je (j') | vos | — | |
| present | siye | siyons | siyez | ||||
French
Etymology
From Middle French estre, from a merger of two verbs:
- Old French ester, from Latin stō (“stand, be situated”), from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂-. The forms with initial ét- derive from this verb.
- Old French estre, from Latin sum (“be”). This verb was irregular also in Latin, and derives from Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- for the forms beginning with f-, and *h₁es- for the remainder.
See cognates in regional languages in France: Bourguignon étre, Champenois ètre, Norman ête, Gallo ête, Picard ète, Franco-Provençal étre, Occitan èsser and estar, Corsican essè.
Pronunciation
Verb
être
- to be
- Vous devez être plus clairs.
- You must be clearer.
- (auxiliary) Used to form the perfect and pluperfect tense of certain verbs (including all reflexive verbs)
- Après être allé au yoga, je suis rentré chez moi.
- After having gone to yoga, I came back home.
- (auxiliary) to be (Used to form the passive voice)
- Il peut être battu ce soir.
- He could be beaten this evening.
Conjugation
Conjugation of être (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| present participle | étant /e.tɑ̃/ | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| past participle | été /e.te/ | ||||||
| infinitive | |||||||
| simple | être | ||||||
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| gerund1 | |||||||
| simple | étant /e.tɑ̃/ | ||||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) |
present | suis /sɥi/ |
es /ɛ/ |
est /ɛ/ |
sommes /sɔm/ |
êtes /ɛt/ |
sont /sɔ̃/ |
| imperfect | étais /e.tɛ/ |
étais /e.tɛ/ |
était /e.tɛ/ |
étions /e.tjɔ̃/ |
étiez /e.tje/ |
étaient /e.tɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | fus /fy/ |
fus /fy/ |
fut /fy/ |
fûmes /fym/ |
fûtes /fyt/ |
furent /fyʁ/ | |
| future | serai /sə.ʁe/ |
seras /sə.ʁa/ |
sera /sə.ʁa/ |
serons /sə.ʁɔ̃/ |
serez /sə.ʁe/ |
seront /sə.ʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | serais /sə.ʁɛ/ |
serais /sə.ʁɛ/ |
serait /sə.ʁɛ/ |
serions /sə.ʁjɔ̃/ |
seriez /sə.ʁje/ |
seraient /sə.ʁɛ/ | |
| (compound tenses) |
present perfect | present indicative of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect | imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| past anterior2 | past historic of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| future perfect | future of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| conditional perfect | conditional of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| subjunctive | que je (j’) | que tu | qu’il, qu’elle | que nous | que vous | qu’ils, qu’elles | |
| (simple tenses) |
present | sois /swa/ |
sois /swa/ |
soit /swa/ |
soyons /swa.jɔ̃/ |
soyez /swa.je/ |
soient /swa/ |
| imperfect2 | fusse /fys/ |
fusses /fys/ |
fût /fy/ |
fussions /fy.sjɔ̃/ |
fussiez /fy.sje/ |
fussent /fys/ | |
| (compound tenses) |
past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | sois /swa/ |
— | soyons /swa.jɔ̃/ |
soyez /swa.je/ |
— | |
| compound | — | simple imperative of avoir + past participle | — | simple imperative of avoir + past participle | simple imperative of avoir + past participle | — | |
| 1 Only usable with preposition en. | |||||||
| 2 In less formal writing or speech, the past historic, past anterior, imperfect subjunctive and pluperfect subjunctive tenses may be found to have been replaced with the indicative present perfect, indicative pluperfect, present subjunctive and past subjunctive tenses respectively (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81). | |||||||
Related terms
See also
Related terms
Further reading
- “être” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).
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