Le Verbe Irrégulier Être (the irregular verb être/to be)
Video
Notes
- Etre is the French verb for "to be" and it is our first irregular verb.
- An irregular verb is a verb whose conjugations have no pattern. This means that, unlike a regular -er verb, you cannot just remember to drop the infinitive ending and add a present-tense ending. YOU MUST MEMORIZE THE CONJUGATIONS OF AN IRREGULAR VERB!!
- Être means to be, so when you are saying things like "I am," "you are," etc., you are using the verb être.
- Here are the conjugations of the verb être:
Image courtesy of www.Frenchlearner.com
Image courtesy of www.Frenchlearner.com
- Être is used to describe what you are like, your state of being (ex: emotion), or your profession.
- If you are saying something like "I am eating," you DO NOT use être, you just use your conjugation of the verb (manger).
- To say "it is" you would use "il est," "elle est," or "c'est" depending.
- > Use "il est" if you have already mentioned a thing or a person that is masculine. Use ils sont if it is also plural.
Ex: Voici M. Richard. Il est votre professeur. > Here is Mr. Richard. He is your teacher.
- > Use "elle est" if you have already mentioned a thing or a person that is feminine. Use elles sont if it is also plural.
Ex: La biblio? Elle est moderne. > The library? It is modern. - > Use "c'est" or its plural form "ce sont" to identify who or what something is.
Ex: Qu'est-ce que c'est? C'est une photo de Sandrine. > What is it? It's a picture of Sandrine.
Activities
Oral conjugation practice
Have students practice conjugating etre while also speaking!
Directions:
Materials: none
Activity courtesy of J. Rauschenburg.
Have students practice conjugating etre while also speaking!
Directions:
- All students in the class stand up
- Go around the room in order, conjugating the given verb (in this case etre) for one or two consecutive subjects.If the student can’t give an answer, they have to sit down, and the next person must say the form that student should have been able to say. (they can’t count ahead unless they’re sure everyone ahead of them knows the answers)
- Whoever has the 3rd person plural form also has to sit down!
Ex: Student 1: je, Student 2: tu, Student 3: il/elle (sit down!), Student 4: nous, vous, Student 5: ils/elles (sit down!) - To prevent the obvious boredom that may occur when it's not your turn (and you might “tune out” or be prone to talking!) I also make anyone sit down who doesn't know which pronoun we're on!
- The winner is the last one standing. This is quick for extra minutes at the end of class.
Materials: none
Activity courtesy of J. Rauschenburg.
Additional Sites
French-Linguistics
Information on être in all of its tenses. There are notes at the bottom of the page talking about specifics and important details.
Sophia
A comprehensive tutorial about conjugating verbs and more specifically conjugating and using etre.
French Learner
An explanation of the uses of être with examples.
Information on être in all of its tenses. There are notes at the bottom of the page talking about specifics and important details.
Sophia
A comprehensive tutorial about conjugating verbs and more specifically conjugating and using etre.
French Learner
An explanation of the uses of être with examples.
Additional Videos
Video created by Youtubers Ohlalaispeakfrench.
This video gives the conjugations and definitions of the conjugations of être. It mentions adjectives, but does not teach how être is specifically used.
Video created by Youtuber PhillipLackey42.
Video created by Youtuber PhillipLackey42.