The verb etre is a conjugation in all tenses. Verb etre: conjugation and usage

As in most other European languages, in the French version it is not possible to omit the verb to be, which, on the contrary, is very typical for the Russian language in phrases like: he is cultured, she is at home, they are in the mountains. A Frenchman, an Englishman or a German in these cases will definitely say: he is strange, she is at home, they are in the mountains. Thus, the verb to be (is) is extremely important for any native speaker in Europe. At the same time, in German, in this connection, we will deal with the verb sein, in English - with the verb to be, while in French there is a verb être.

The aforementioned French verb être is used in the case of describing states (être curieux - to be curious, être petit - to be small), when indicating the occupation (être étudiant - to be a student, être médecin - to be a doctor), and is also widely used in the process of conjugation in complex temporary forms of fifteen verbs (devenir (to become), naître (to be born), aller (to go), etc. - intransitive verb units, the semantics of which are associated with movement or state - Je suis allé (I left.)).

The conjugation of the verb être itself is as follows:

je suis adroit - I am dexterous

tu es adroit - you are dexterous

il est adroit - he is dexterous

elle est adroite - she is dexterous

nous sommes adroits - we are dexterous

vous êtes adroits - you are dexterous

ils sont adroits - they are dexterous

elles sont adroites - they are dexterous (female)

In turn, the negative form with the verb être will be formed according to the following pattern: ne + être in one of its forms + pas. - n'es pas (You are not); n'êtes pas (You are not); ne suis pas (I am not), etc.

The order of constructing interrogative constructions with the verb être will depend on the specific situation and the purpose of the question being asked (general or special), as well as on the recipient (whom they are addressing). — Suis-je? est elle? Sont-ils? Est-ce qu'elle est? Elle est? Qui est elle? (Who is she?), etc.

Moreover, if être is used to fix the occupation or profession, then we will have to omit the article before a certain noun:

je suis artiste - I am an artist;

tu es pianiste - you are a pianist;

il est chef d'orchestre - he is a conductor;

elle est étudiante - she is a student;

nous sommes grimpeurs - we are climbers;

vous êtes médecin - you are a doctor;

ils sont juges - they are judges;

elles sont paysannes - they are peasant women.

However, in the case of placing a definition with a noun, the use of the indefinite article -Vous êtes un mauvais concepteur (You are a bad designer) is observed; Elle est une bonne fille (She is a good girl).

You also need to take into account the fact that the adjective placed after être must agree with the direct control word in its gender, as well as in number. - Je suis intelligent (-) - m.p. (I'm smart). Ma fille est intelligent (e) - f.b. (My daughter is smart). Son ami est gras (His friend is fat). Ils sont adroit (s) - pl. h. (They are skillful). Thus, the masculine will be reflected in the use of the zero ending, the feminine in the addition of the inflection -e, and the plural in the use of the ending -s.

Interestingly, the French language is very rich in all sorts of set expressions in which the verb être is actively used: être cool (to be “cool”); être islamiste (to be an Islamist); être stable (to be stable); être insupportable (to be unbearable); (avoir le droit) d'etre idiot (have the right) to be an idiot)); être fastidieux (to be boring); être peureux (to be cowardly); être nouveau (to be new); être héros (to be a hero), etc. The ability to use them correctly in your speech can make it richer, emotionally and stylistically rich.

The French verb être is one of the most common verbs in French. As a rule, it is translated as "to be, to exist, to live, to be, to be, to be", although other forms of translation exist. Often it is used to describe a state, indicate an object, its property or attribute, location, time frame, or indicate the type of activity. When using the verb être to denote a profession or occupation, the article is not placed before the noun. For example:

Être fatigué - to be tired

Être élève - to be a student

But if the given noun is used with an addition, then the indefinite article is used. For example:

Il est un bon élève - He is a good student

Note: The adjective after the verb être agrees with the control word in gender and number. For example:

Il est grand - he is big

Elle est grande - she is big

The French language verb être belongs to the verbs of the third group, namely to irregular verbs, accordingly, it does not have any analogy of conjugation and the following form of conjugation is inherent in it:

je suis - I am

tu es - you are

il est - he is

nous sommes - we are

vous êtes - you are

ils sont - they are

Note: It should also be noted that most often when translating into Russian in order to comply with the rules of the Russian language, according to which the predicate in the sentence can be omitted as part of the correct transmission of meaning, this verb is not subject to translation.

Il est tres haut - he is too tall

Vous êtes forts - you are strong

Its characteristic feature is the ability to be used not only as the verb "to be" and its synonyms, but also as an auxiliary verb, as well as an integral part of the predicate. As an auxiliary verb, the French verb être is used when conjugating verbs in the past tense, in passive constructions, that is, in constructions with a passive participle, and also in the conditional mood. For example:

Je suis allé à bicyclette - I arrived on a bicycle.

Cette maison a été construit en 1987 - This house was built in 1987.

Si j’avais été chez moi avant-hier, je serais allé visiter ma tante - If I had been at home the day before yesterday, I would have visited my aunt.

The French verb être is often used with the preposition à. If this preposition is followed by a pronoun, then it indicates that the subject belongs to another object, its relation to another object. For example:

Ce livre est à toi - this book belongs to you

Je suis à vous dans un moment - I'm at your service in a minute

If it is followed by an infinitive, then this indicates (1) the need for the phenomenon and the action expressed by this infinitive, (2) the repetition, the commonness of the phenomenon expressed by the infinitive.

C'est à écrire - This must be written

Il est toujours à travailler - it always works

When the French verb être is combined with the pronoun il, the above is often translated as an impersonal construction. For example:

Il est trois heures du matin - Three o'clock in the morning.

Il est matin. - Light.

In almost all languages, verbs change in person and number. This is called conjugation. Sometimes this happens according to general rules, but often the most used of them have to be learned by heart, because the formation of certain forms defies any logic. And among them, of course, "etre".

Conjugation of regular verbs in French

It is difficult for a modern person to do without knowledge of English at least at an elementary level. Any trip, meeting with foreigners, interesting highly specialized articles - for all this it is necessary to learn a foreign language. Most often, English is taught in schools, although French is no less important - it duplicates information on a driver's license. It is also one of the working languages ​​of the UN and its secretariat, and finally, it is simply beautiful and romantic. But learning it is not an easy task, primarily because of the grammar.

Remembering how the so-called "regular" verbs change is not difficult. There are two main groups with different endings, which are conjugated according to different principles. The easiest way to illustrate this is with a table:

Obviously, remembering these rules is not so difficult. But unfortunately,

not all verbs are so simple in their changes. And of course, etre is one of them.

Conjugation of basic irregular verbs

It might seem that there is no particular difficulty in French grammar. But this is not entirely true. The main verbs - etre (to be) and avoir (to have) belong to the category of irregular. That is, their forms can only be learned, it is impossible to build them based on the general rules of conjugation. The problem is aggravated by the fact that these verbs often act as "bundles", that is, they participate in the formation of more complex grammatical structures. But you should not immediately delve into the question, first you need to find out how, after all, these two verbs change.

completely different forms that also have to be learned.

Past and future tense

There are 8 forms of tenses in French, and two of them are used only in writing. There are also 4 conditional, subjunctive and imperative, as well as participles and constructions denoting the compassionate pledge. That is, there are 21 in total for each verb, including the infinitive. This number is a little scary. And all this must be mastered if you want to know French well. The conjugation of the verb etre, as already mentioned, does not follow the general rules, which means that all its forms have to be learned by heart

The complete table will look like this:

Yes, the variety of forms of French verbs is amazing. And after all, all this will have to be memorized. Only etre is represented in the table, the conjugation of which is a perfect example of how unpredictably wrong words can behave.
Verbs. But there are a huge number of them. In fact, the fear of irregular verbs should not stop those who want to learn French. Not all of these forms are actively used even by native speakers, and everything that is necessary can be remembered by regularly practicing.

Use of etre

The conjugation of this verb may seem complicated, and it is. But you will have to learn all its forms, because you will have to use it constantly.

First, it is present in phrases denoting the occupation, nationality or other qualities of a person:
Je suis etudiante. I am a student.

Secondly, it is used in the designation of states:
Je suis malade. I am sick.

Finally, it is used to form the forms of some verbs:
Je suis allé. I went.

So one should definitely not neglect the study of such an important verb. And its forms can be remembered in the process of mastering certain tenses, moods and other grammatical structures. Then the conjugation of the verb etre will not be like this

frightening - the main thing is to do everything gradually.

Examples from other languages

French is no exception in terms of irregular verb forms. For European languages, this is rather a rule. English to be, German sein, even Russian "to be"! The latter is not used as often as its counterparts in other languages, but it is undeniably incorrect. This is easy to verify by trying to conjugate it. In the present tense, he completely changes the basis to "is", in the past and future it returns, and the change seems to occur according to the rules. However, it is more correct to classify it as "wrong". So before you think about how you have to suffer while learning foreign languages, you should understand that your native language - Russian - can hardly be called simple.

In French, the verb être (to be) is used to describe a phenomenon, the state of an animate or inanimate object, to determine the type of activity, occupation, profession. The verb être is also used as an auxiliary when conjugating other verbs in compound tenses in French.
The verb être belongs to the third group of verbs and has special forms of conjugation in almost all tenses. In this case, either the original root of the verb or a morpheme different from the root of the verb is used as the basis. As a rule, the conjugation of the verb être is memorized. The following is the conjugation of the verb être in the present (Présent), past completed (Passé composé), past incomplete (Imparfait), and future simple (Futur simple).

Usually in sentences the verb être is not translated into Russian. For example, the expression "il est directeur" in Russian will sound like "he is a director", and not "he is a director", since the verb "to be" in combination with the names of professions, descriptions of states, etc. in Russian, as a rule, is omitted. Unlike the Russian language, in French the presence of a subject with an indication of the occupation, description, etc. always presupposes the presence of the verb être:
Nous sommes enfants - We are children.
Pierre, tu es très intelligent - Pierre, you are very smart.
La maison est grande - The house is big.

In some constructions in French, the verb être may either not be translated into Russian at all, or be translated by other verbs that are suitable in meaning in this particular situation. For example:
ton stylo est sur la table - your pen is on the table OR your pen is on the table;
mon complet est dans l "armoire - my suit is hanging in the closet OR my suit is in the closet;
nous sommes en huitième - we are in eighth grade.

The verb être is used as an auxiliary in conjugation of all reflexive verbs.(se séparer, s "arrêter, etc.) and 15 verbs in compound tenses. These include the so-called "intransitive" verbs denoting a state or movement:
aller (to go), arriver (to arrive), descendre (to descend), devenir (to become),

entrer (to enter), monter (to rise), mourir (to die), naître (to be born), partir (to leave),

rentrer (return), rester (stay), revenir (return), sortir (leave),

tomber (fall), venir (come).

For example: je me suis arrêté - I stopped; je suis venu - I have come; elle est sortie - she went out.

A participle formed from a conjugated verb will agree in number and gender with the subject to which it refers. For example: il est venu, nous sommes venus, elles sont venues.

Due to the fact that some of the 15 verbs listed can have different meanings, such verbs can be conjugated with the auxiliary verb avoir:
Compare: il est monté - he rose; il a monté sa valise dans l'armoire - he lifted (put) his suitcase in the closet.
The auxiliary verb être is replaced by avoir also if there is an object in the genitive case, i.e. when the conjugated verb becomes transitive:
il a monté l'escalier - he went up the stairs.

The French verb "être" translated into Russian means "to be". This verb is part of the third group of verbs, therefore it has special conjugation forms in all tenses. For this, the original root of the verb is taken, or the verbal morpheme. For competent speech, these forms must be memorized.

The verb "être" is used as a semantic verb when defining a profession, status, type of activity, as well as when describing a certain phenomenon or state of an object.

Usually, in sentences where the verb "être" carries a semantic load, it is not translated into Russian. For example:
. Je suis professeur. - I'am a teacher. (Not "I am a teacher")
. Elle est tres riche. - She is very rich.
. Le chat botte est mon heros aimé. Puss in Boots is my favorite character.

In French, there are a number of turns in which the verb "être" can also be omitted in the translation, or translated by another verb that correlates in meaning with the main idea of ​​the sentence in which it is used. For example:
. L'auto est à côt é de la maison - A car near the house. The car is parked near the house.
. Les serviettes sont dans la commode. - Towels in the dresser. The towels are in the dresser.
. Il est jardinier. - He's a gardener. He works as a gardener.

In addition, the verb "être" is one of the auxiliary verbs in French. So, it will be an auxiliary verb when conjugating all reflexive (pronominal) verbs. The participle (participe passé) formed during the conjugation of the semantic verb must be consistent in number and gender with the subject. So:
. Il s "est réveillé. - He woke up.
. Elle ne s'est pas lavee. She didn't wash.

It is worth paying attention to the fact that the masculine participle is used in the first sentence, and the feminine participle in the second. This is evidenced by the added "e" in the participle of the verb "se laver".

Also, the verb "être" will be auxiliary in the formation of compound tenses with "intransitive" verbs denoting movement or state:
. naître - to be born
. mourir - to die
. tomber - to fall
. aller - go, go
. arriver - come, arrive
. partir - leave, leave
. venir - come, arrive
. survenir - appear, meet
. apparaître - to appear
. sortir - exit
. and others
For example:
. Pouchkine est né en 1799. - Pushkin was born in 1799.
. Le train est arrivé sur le quai. - The train has arrived at the platform.

However, the verb être can be replaced by the verb avoir if the verb is followed by a direct object (without a preposition) in the construction of the sentence. Then the verb becomes "transitive":
J'ai sorti mon porte-monnaie. - I took out my purse.

The verb être can also be used in fixed phrases. In the third person singular, in combination with the pronoun il, it forms an untranslatable impersonal phrase il est, which is used mainly to denote time. For example:
. Quelle heure est-il? - What time is it now?
. Il est quatre heures. - It's four o'clock.

The use of the verb "être" is very common in French, both on its own and as an auxiliary in the formation of tenses, so be careful when using it. If you choose the wrong form, you can unwittingly distort your own thought.