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The following French tutorial was written by a soon to be graduate student in linguistics named Jennifer Wagner, who runs a fantastic website called Indo-European Languages - ielanguages.com. We thank her for generously allowing us to post her work here!

7. French Verbs for "To Be" and "To Have"

Present tense of être - to be (eh-truh)

I am	Je suis	zhuh swee	We are	Nous sommes	noo sohm
You are	Tu es	tew ay	You are	Vous êtes	voo zett
He is She is One is	Il est Elle est On est	eel ay ell ay ohn ay	They are They are	Ils sont Elles sont	eel sohn ell sohn

Past tense of être - to be

I was (being)	j'étais	zhay-teh		We were (being)	nous étions	ay-tee-ohn
You were (being)	tu étais	ay-teh		You were (being)	vous étiez	ay-tee-ay
He was (being) She was (being) One was (being)	il était elle était on était	ay-teh ay-teh ay-teh		They were (being) They were (being)	ils étaient elles étaient	ay-teh ay-teh

Note: Je and any verb form that starts with a vowel (or silent h) combine together for ease of pronunciation.

Future Tense of être - to be

I will be	je serai	suh-reh		We will be	nous serons	suh-rohn
You will be	tu seras	suh-rah		You will be	vous seriez	suh-ree-ay
He will be She will be One will be	il sera elle sera on sera	suh-rah suh-rah suh-rah		They will be They will be	ils seront elles seront	suh-rohn suh-rohn

Note:  You must use the subject pronouns; but I will leave them out of future conjugations.

Present tense of avoir - to have (ah-vwahr)

I have	j'ai	zhay	We have	avons	ah-vohn
You have	as	ah	You have	avez	ah-vay
He/she has	a	ah	They have	ont	ohn

Past tense of avoir - to have

I had	j'avais	zhah-veh		We had	avions	ah-vee-ohn
You had	avais	ah-veh		You had	aviez	ah-vee-ay
He/she had	avait	ah-veh		They had	avaient	ah-veh

Future tense of avoir - to have

I will have	j'aurai	zhoh-reh		We will have	aurons	oh-rohn
You will have	auras	oh-rah		You will have	aurez	oh-ray
He/she will have	aura	oh-rah		They will have	auront	oh-rohn

Avoir and être are used in many common and idiomatic expressions that should be memorized:

avoir chaud - to be hot avoir froid - to be cold avoir peur - to be afraid avoir raison - to be right avoir tort - to be wrong avoir faim - to be hungry avoir soif - to be thirsty avoir sommeil - to be sleepy avoir honte - to be ashamed avoir besoin de - to need avoir l'air de - to look like, seem avoir envie de - to feel like avoir de la chance - to be lucky

être de retour - to be back être en retard - to be late être en avance - to be early être d'accord - to be in agreement être sur le point de - to be about to être en train de - to be in the act of être enrhumée - to have a cold nous + être (un jour) - to be (a day)

J'ai froid.  I'm cold. Tu avais raison.  You were right. Il aura sommeil ce soir.  He will be tired tonight. Elle a de la chance!  She's lucky! Nous aurons faim plus tard.  We will be hungry later. Vouz aviez tort.  You were wrong. Ils ont chaud.  They are hot. Elles avaient peur hier.  They were afraid yesterday.

Je suis en retard!  I'm late! Tu étais en avance.  You were early. Elle sera d'accord.  She will agree. Nous sommes lundi.  It is Monday. Vous étiez enrhumé.  You had a cold. Ils seront en train d'étudier.  They will be (in the act of) studying. Elles étaient sur le point de partir.  They were about to leave. On est de retour.  We/you/they/the people are back.