être
FrenchEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Middle French estre, from a merger of two verbs:
- Old French ester, from Latin stāre (“stand”), from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂-. The forms with initial ét- derive from this verb.
- Old French estre, from Vulgar Latin *essere, from Latin esse (“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: Champenois ètre, Norman ête, Gallo ête, Picard ète, Bourguignon étre, Franco-Provençal étre, Occitan èsser and estar, Corsican essè.
PronunciationEdit
- IPA(key): /ɛtʁ/
-
Audio (France, West) (file) - (Quebec) IPA(key): [aɛ̯tχ]
-
Audio (Quebec, Montreal) (file) - (Louisiana) IPA(key): /ɛtrə/, /dɛt/
- Rhymes: -ɛtʁ
- Homophones: aitre, aitres, aître, aîtres, êtres, hêtre, hêtres
- Hyphenation: être
VerbEdit
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.
-
ConjugationEdit
Conjugation of être (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| simple | compound | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| infinitive | être | avoir été | |||||
| gerund | en étant | en ayant été | |||||
| present participle | étant /e.tɑ̃/ |
||||||
| past participle | été /e.te/ |
||||||
| person | singular | plural | |||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il | nous | vous | ils | |
| 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 historic1 | 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 | Use the present tense of avoir followed by the past participle | |||||
| pluperfect | Use the imperfect tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| past anterior1 | Use the past historic tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| future perfect | Use the future tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| conditional perfect | Use the conditional tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| subjunctive | que je (j’) | que tu | qu’il | que nous | que vous | qu’ils | |
| simple tenses |
present | sois /swa/ |
sois /swa/ |
soit /swa/ |
soyons /swa.jɔ̃/ |
soyez /swa.je/ |
soient /swa/ |
| imperfect1 | fusse /fys/ |
fusses /fys/ |
fût /fy/ |
fussions /fy.sjɔ̃/ |
fussiez /fy.sje/ |
fussent /fys/ |
|
| compound tenses |
past | Use the present subjunctive tense of avoir followed by the past participle | |||||
| pluperfect1 | Use the imperfect subjunctive tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | tu | – | nous | vous | – | |
| — | sois /swa/ |
— | soyons /swa.jɔ̃/ |
soyez /swa.je/ |
— | ||
| 1literary tenses | |||||||
Derived termsEdit
Related termsEdit
See alsoEdit
NounEdit
être m (plural êtres)
Related termsEdit
Further readingEdit
- “être” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).