conjugation of etre french

French Verb Être Conjugation

Être Conjugation, Usage, and Examples

• Pronunciation & Conversation
• Resources For Teachers
• Formal vs. Modern Pronunciation of Être

Present Indicative

Compound past indicative, imperfect indicative, simple future indicative, near future indicative, conditional, present subjunctive, present participle/gerund.

The French irregular verb être, "to be," is one of the most important verbs in the French language. In this article, you can find the conjugations of être  in the present, compound past, imperfect, simple future, near future indicative, the conditional, the present subjunctive, as well as the imperative and the gerund .

Être is not only common because it means "to be", but also because many verbs use  être as an auxiliary verb  to form compound tenses such as passé composé. In those cases we sometimes have to translate it as "have." 

The verb êt re is  used in many different ways  and in countless  French expressions , such as  c'est la vie (that's life), and  n'est-ce pas ? (isn't that right?).

Formal vs. Modern Pronunciation of Être 

Be careful with the pronunciation of this verb. In more formal French, various forms of  être  involve liaisons, such as:

• Je suis -Z-américain:  I am American.
• Ils sont-T-arrivés:  They have arrived.

In informal modern French, however, there are glidings (elisions):

• Je suis becomes Shui , with no liaison: Shui américain.
• Tu es is pronounced Tay,  with no liaison.
• Il sera is pronounced Il sra , and this continues in the future and the conditional.

The  passé composé  is a past tense that can be translated as the simple past or the present perfect. For the verb être , it is formed with the  auxiliary verb  avoir  and the  past participle   été​. 

The  imperfect tense  is another form of the past tense, but it is used to talk about ongoing or repeated actions in the past.   It can be translated to English as "was being" or "used to be", although it can sometimes also be translated as the simple "was", depending on the context.

Notice that the conjugations of the  future tense  are irregular, as the stem is  ser-.

Another form of the future tense is the near future, which is the equivalent to the English "going to + verb". In French the near future is formed with the present tense conjugation of the verb  aller  (to go) + the infinitive ( être ).

  The conditional  mood in French is the equivalent to the English "would + verb." Notice that it uses the same irregular stem as the future tense.

The  subjunctive mood  conjugation of être is also highly irregular. 

The  imperative mood  is used to give commands, both positive and negative. They have the same verb form, but the negative commands include  ne...pas  around the verb.

Positive commands

Negative commands

One of the uses of the  present participle  is to form the gerund (usually preceded by the preposition  en ). The gerund can be used to talk about simultaneous actions.

Present Participle/Gerund of Être:  étant

Je me suis marié en étant étudiant. ->  I got married while being a student.

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• Être conjugation table
• Être conjugation rules
• Être synonyms

Être french definition

Être conjugation in all forms, être conjugation in all tenses.

• Être : verbs with similar conjugation
• Être conjugation in indicative
• Être conjugation in present indicative
• Être conjugation in present perfect indicative
• Être conjugation in imperfect indicative
• Être conjugation in pluperfect indicative
• Être conjugation in simple past indicative
• Être conjugation in past perfect indicative
• Être conjugation in simple future indicative
• Être conjugation in future perfect indicative
• Être conjugation in subjunctive
• Être conjugation in present subjunctive
• Être conjugation in past subjunctive
• Être conjugation in imperfect subjunctive
• Être conjugation in pluperfect subjunctive
• Être conjugation in conditional
• Être conjugation in present conditional
• Être conjugation in past conditional
• Être conjugation in imperative
• Être conjugation in present imperative
• Être conjugation in past imperative
• Infinitive of french verb Être
• Present infinitive of french verb Être
• Past infinitive of french verb Être
• Participle of french verb être
• Present participle of french verb être
• Past participle of french verb être
• Gerundive of french verb être
• Present gerundive of french verb être
• Past gerundive of french verb être

Common french verbs

• French Conjugation Rules
• French Tenses
• French Verbs

French Auxiliaries Verbs

• French First Group Verbs
• French Second Group Verbs
• French Third Group Verbs
• Most Common French Verbs
• Avoir conjugation
• Être conjugation
• Aimer conjugation
• Manger conjugation
• Finir conjugation
• Partir conjugation
• Aller conjugation
• Faire conjugation
• Dire conjugation
• Lire conjugation
• Voir conjugation
• Venir conjugation
• Pouvoir conjugation
• Prendre conjugation
• Vouloir conjugation
• Devoir conjugation
• Savoir conjugation
• Mettre conjugation
• Present Indicative
• Imperfect Indicative
• Simple Past Indicative
• Simple Future Indicative
• Present Perfect Indicative
• Pluperfect Indicative
• Past Perfect Indicative
• Future Perfect Indicative
• Present Subjunctive
• Past Subjunctive
• Imperfect Subjunctive
• Pluperfect Subjunctive
• Present Conditional
• Past Conditional
• Present Imperative
• Past Imperative
• French Conjugation

Conjugation of french verb être

Present perfect, simple past, past perfect, simple future, future perfect, subjunctive, conditional, être french verb, conjugation rules, reflexive form:, negative form:, interrogative form:.

• Être french verb conjugation rules

Être french synonyms

• Être similar verbs conjugation

This is the list of être french verb synonyms :

Active voice conjugation

Similar verbs conjugation.

Here is the full list of verbs sharing the same verb conjugation :

List of verbs used as patterns in french conjugation:

Most common first group verbs

Most common second group verbs, most common third group verbs.

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French verb conjugation for être

Auxiliary Conjugated with avoir English translation: to be être for a woman | être ? | ne pas être | Print verb | Export to Word

Subjunctive

Conditional.

In French, there are 2 Auxiliaries : être and avoir. Avoir is usually used with composed tenses excepted when verb is passive. In this case, it is compulsory to use être : je suis mort.

Fréquent

Shape of sentence

Similar verbs.

Conjugation of the French verb être

• Conjugation être
• Exercise être

Conjugation French verb être

Translation être, indicatif (indicative), présent (present), passé composé (present perfect), imparfait (imperfect), plus-que-parfait (pluperfect), passé simple (simple past), passé antérieur (past perfect), futur simple (future), futur antérieur (past future), conditionnel (conditional), passé (perfect), subjonctif (subjunctive), passé (past), impératif (imperative), infinitif (infinitive), participe (participle), gérondif (gerund), synonyms for the verb être.

'être' conjugation table in French

Past participle, present perfect, conditional, past historic, future perfect, past anterior, conditional perfect, subjunctive.

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Être (to be) conjugation in French: Chart and examples

The verb “être” is one of the most important verbs in the French language.

It means “to be” and is used to express a variety of meanings, including identity, location, and existence.

In this lesson, we will learn about the conjugation of “être” in French, including its chart and some examples.

Chart of “être” Conjugation:

• Je suis étudiant. (I am a student.)
• Tu es à la maison. (You are at home.)
• Il est content. (He is happy.)
• Elle est française. (She is French.)
• Nous sommes ensemble. (We are together.)
• Vous êtes les bienvenus. (You are welcome.)
• Ils sont amis. (They are friends.)

It’s important to note that “être” is an irregular verb and its conjugation does not follow the typical pattern for conjugating verbs in French.

Additionally, “être” has a unique conjugation for the pronoun “on”, which is used to refer to a general or indefinite third person.

In conclusion, “être” is a very important verb in French, used to express a variety of meanings, including identity, location, and existence.

Its conjugation is irregular and does not follow the typical pattern for conjugating verbs in French.

Practice using the chart and examples above, and you will soon be comfortable using “être” in your conversations in French.

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Conjugate être in the present tense in French (Le Présent)

The verb  être   (to be) is irregular (it doesn't conjugate the same way as most verbs ending in -re ).

Learn how to conjugate ÊTRE (to be) in  Le Présent (Indicatif)  in French

Have a listen to these examples:

Je suis en retard. I am late.

Tu es jolie. You are pretty.

Il est grand. He is tall.

Elle est gentille. She is nice.

Nous sommes frères. We are brothers.

Vous êtes soeurs jumelles. You are twin sisters.

Ils sont irlandais. They are Irish (men).

Elles sont françaises. They are French (women).

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Learn more about these related French grammar topics

• Le Présent (Indicatif)

Examples and resources

How to conjugate the verb être in French with all tenses & moods

Elinor Zucchet

To be or not to be… Telle est la question. “Be” is probably one of the most, if not the most, important verb in many languages. Knowing its proper conjugation will allow you to:

• Say how you feel in French
• Describe your personality in French
• Use French adjectives
• Explain where you are
• Mention your job
• Use the passive voice
• Talk about existentialism
• And many more!

Below, we have compiled a comprehensive guide to French “to be” conjugation . Ok, you might not need to use all these tenses — especially the fancy/vintage plusperfect subjunctive — but you’ll certainly take your French skills to the next level. And you’ll be able to read old French books!

The verb être

Être and avoir

“Être” and “Avoir” are the two most important French verbs. Unfortunately, these are irregular verbs, so you’re going to have to learn their conjugation. The good news is, once you do, you’ll be able to use them in a wide variety of contexts!

Main uses of “être”

“Être” means “to be”. As in English, it’s used to express a sense of being, whether temporary or permanent. It’s also used in the passive voice as an auxiliary verb.

Additionally, you’ll find “être” in these four grammatical expressions:

• c'est – this is, that is.
• est-ce que – to be used in a question .
• être en train de – to express something progressive.
• n'est-ce pas – to ask for confirmation of information or a statement.

Differences with English

While there are many similarities between “être” and “to be”, watch out for the following differences:

1. Age: In French, you’re not an age, you have it.

“J’ai trente ans” and NOT “Je suis trente ans” .

2. Weather: To comment on the weather in French , use “faire.”

“Il fait chaud” and NOT “Il est chaud” .

3. Basic needs

If you’re thirsty, hungry, hot or cold, use “avoir” in French. “J’ai soif” and NOT “Je suis soif”.

French verb to be complete conjugation charts

We want to make learning French as clear as possible for you, so you'll find complete French chart tables below for conjugating to be in French, in all tenses and all moods. It could be a good idea to print these all out for a nifty French verb grammar guide for the most popular verb: être . Or alternatively, bookmark this page, and come back to it for whenever you need a straightforward grammar check.

Present tense

The present tense is usually the first tense you’ll learn in a foreign language.

Even if you don’t master other tenses yet, you can get around and be understood using the present tense.

A great motivation to learn the table below, right?

And while you’re at it, make sure to learn the French pronouns .

Imperfect tense

The imperfect tense is the easiest past tense in French, with few irregular conjugations.

So forget about perfection and learn the French imperfect for “être” !

Future tense

Another staple of French grammar, the future tense is key to speaking about… well… the future.

That reminds me, did you read our article on possessive pronouns in French ?

Ok, I’m getting off topic, back to the future !

Conditional tense

The French conditionnel can be used as a mood and a tense. How cool is that?

Present subjunctive

The subjunctive is widely used in French and other Latin languages . This mood is used to indicate uncertainty, subjectivity or unreality.

Imperfect subjunctive

And here is another subjunctive for you! It's used in formal and written French from literature to history and journalism.

Passé composé

The “passé composé” is very handy if you haven’t mastered the “imperfect” tense yet. It’s way easier to learn and easier to use in a conversation!

Past perfect

Past perfect follows the structure of the “passé composé ”. Pretty easy!

Future perfect

Ok, we’re entering advanced French territory… But hey, even if you don’t get to use the tenses and moods below, they might still help you to read books in French !

Past conditional

Yep, another advanced one… you can use the past conditional in French to talk about something that would, could, or should have, but didn't happen.

Past subjunctive

And another… you can use the past subjunctive in French to express emotion, doubts, and uncertainty.

Pluperfect subjunctive

If you’re capable of learning and using the extremely rare, extremely formal French verb form pluperfect subjunctive of être in a conversation with Francophones , you deserve a prize. Up to the challenge?

Passé simple

Even though you won’t hear this one very often in everyday conversations, it’s a very useful tense to know if you want to speak French properly.

Past anterior

Try to use this one to impress your French-speaking friends!

Imperative mood

The imperative mood is used to give orders/commands. The lack of a subject pronoun identifies this mood. To find the French conjugation for “être” in the imperative mood, just use the present indicative.

In this article, we covered the most important things to know about French to be conjugation.

By now, you should be a true “spelling be” in French.

But if you’re still struggling with “être ,” don’t let it be. Check out our French learning blog or our French lessons !

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Understanding French Conjugation for Être

While there are thousands of verbs you can use in a sentence, a few of them carry a much higher importance. Certain verbs, like “to do” or “to be” are used more often in any language, which makes understanding verb conjugation crucial. This is especially true with the French verb conjugation of être.

However, any type of French verb conjugation can get a little messy because you have to consider the tense, mood, and voice that are being used in a sentence. While there are many verbs that follow regular rules, there are also many that don’t. The word être is one of the irregular forms, but also one of the most commonly used verbs in French.

Conjugating the verb être, or “to be,” is one of the most important ways to improve your French and get one step closer to fluency. To help you better understand how to do this, this article will go over various tenses and their corresponding conjugation of être in French.

How to Conjugate Être in French

Conjugating être in French can be confusing, as there are several different ways it can be done. Each conjugation and subsequent forms of être depend on the sentence structure, the tense being used, and the overall mood. This can be overwhelming to new learners, especially because it’s one of the most important French verbs to learn, but with a little memorization and practice, être will become part of your vocabulary in no time. To help you get started, we’ve included tables of French être conjugation in some of the most commonly used verb tenses below.

French Être Conjugation in the Present

Present tense is the most commonly used tense in French verb conjugation . It’s used to describe the present moment, but also to describe your current state of being. To make more robust sentences, simply add some French adjectives. This could include your location, profession, or even physical state/emotion. The same is applied to être conjugation in French. You can see the different present tense être conjugations in the table below.

Some examples of using present tense être conjugation in a sentence include:

• Je suis professeur — I’m a teacher
• Nous sommes heureux — We are happy

Compound Past Être Conjugation

The compound past, or in French passé composé is used to talk about events that happened in the past. These are usually confined to singular events that happened once and then were over. The compound past needs to be combined with the auxiliary verb avoir (to have) and the past participle of être, which is été . You can see this defined in the table below.

Knowing the French alphabet is important for pronunciation of étre conjugations. Some examples of using the compound past tense with être conjugation in a sentence include:

• J’ai été impressionné — I’m was impressed
• Nous sommes bouleversé — We were devastated

Imperfect Être Conjugation in French

Another commonly used form of French être conjugation is the imperfect tense. The imperfect tense is used to talk about continuous events that happened in the past. This is similar to the English equivalent of “used to” or “was/were.” With so many different ways to talk about events in the past, present, and future, things can get a little complicated. Download Tandem to match with a native speaker and help strengthen your distinction between all of the different ways to conjugate être in French. When working with the être conjugation in the imperfect tense, more regular rules apply. As you can see in the table below, the roof of the word (ét) remains consistent throughout.

Some examples of using imperfect tense être conjugation in a sentence include:

• J’étais professeur — I used to be a teacher
• Nous étions heureux — We were happy

Être Conjugation for Simple Future Use

Conjugating être in French for future use is also an important part of working towards fluency, as it lets you discuss events that will be occurring later on. However, this is one of the most irregular forms of être conjugation, so memorization is key. The endings are regular, but the stem of être changes to ser-. You can see how this alters each form in the table below.

Some examples of using simple perfect tense être conjugation in a sentence include:

• Je serai professeur — I will be a teacher
• Nous serons heureux — We will be happy

Near Future Être Conjugation in French

If you want to talk about things that are going to happen soon, you can use the near future French être conjugation. This is similar to using “going to” in the English counterpart. You will need to partner the infinitive form of the verb être with aller conjugation to use this tense. You can see how this is done in the table below.

Some examples of using near perfect tense être conjugation in a sentence include:

• Je vais être professeur — I am going to be a teacher
• Nous allons être heureux — We are going to be happy

Conditional French Conjugation of Être

If you want to say something “would” be, you need to use the conditional form of être conjugation in French. This is often paired with the word “if” in a sentence, or si in French. Conditional usage is therefore a type of hypothetical tense, or a way of saying you would do something under certain circumstances. You can see how être changes in the following table.

Some examples of using the condition tense of être conjugation in a sentence include:

Present Subjunctive French Être Conjugation

Finally, the subjunctive form of être conjugation is used to express some type of doubt or possibility in French. It’s how you communicate about uncertain events or even requests. In most instances, the être conjugation will follow the conjunction “que” in order to complete the sentence. You can see this in the table below.

Some examples of using the present subjunctive form of être conjugation include:

• Je veux que tu sois heureux — I want you to be happy
• Quelle surprise que nous soyons ici — What a surprise that we are here

Other Applications of Être Conjugation

Être is considered an auxiliary verb, which means it can be used to help other verbs express tense, mood, or even voice. In this situation, être can transform other verbs into compound tenses. This is particularly important when working with avoir conjugations. Être can also be used with reflexive verbs in French.

Another way to use être conjugation is as a command. These forms are the same as using être conjugated in the subjunctive form. Some examples are as follows:

• sois gentil — be nice!
• soyez responsables — be responsible!

Other verbs that are similar in usage are the faire conjugation in French and venir conjugation.

Learning the être conjugation in French may take a little work, but with some memorization of the tables above and plenty of practice, you’ll have it down in no time. To help you solidify your understanding of this verb, and others, download Tandem today. Tandem is a unique learning language that can help you practice using core sentences with être conjugation in the past, present, and future.

Tandem offers a personalized language learning experience for members around the world looking to practice and exchange language. All you need to do is download the app, match with a native French speaker, and work on your conversation skills together. Unlike other language apps, Tandem focuses on helping members in our community create long-lasting friendships while strengthening their fluency. To join our community and practice your French, sign up for Tandem today.

Learn French fast and for free by becoming part of the Tandem community!

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