| Valérie: | Our first grammar lesson will be about the verb to be, in French le verbe être. Think about the conjugated form of “to be” in English: I am, you are, he is, she is and so on. It doesn’t really sound like a variation of “to be”, right? In French, it’s the same with the verb être. It’s an irregular verb so you won’t really hear être once we start conjugating it. This is être in the present:
| I am | - | je suis | | You are | - | tu es | | He/she is | - | il/elle est | | We are | - | nous sommes | | You are | - | vous êtes | | They are | - | ils sont | |
You probably noticed that I said “You are” twice in English, but gave two different translations in French, “tu es” and “vous êtes”. |
| Jack: | Yes. |
| Valérie: | One of these is informal "you are" and the other formal. But we'll talk about it later today. And, now, let’s start speaking French! |
| Jack: | Hah! Just like that?! |
| Valérie: | Well, I’ll try to use French as much as I can, and if you feel confident, you answer in French. |
| Jack: | Uff! Well... let’s try. |
| Valérie: | Je suis Valérie. Je suis une professeure de français. |
| Jack: | Je suis Jack. |
| Valérie: | Jacques est bon. |
| Jack: | Merci, Valérie ! Je suis Jacques. Je suis... |
| Valérie: | Vous êtes un entrepreneur. |
| Jack: | Oui oui! Je suis un entrepreneur. And... nous sommes in a class learning French. Uff, something is coming back, Valérie. |
| Valérie: | Très bien! You are doing very well. Give me more examples, Jacques! |
| Jack: | Hmm...je suis... je suis... not easy to start speaking French just like that... |
| Valérie: | Because you are a... |
| Jack: | je suis... I'm a...
| Cause' je suis a picker | | je suis a grinner | | je suis a lover | | And je suis a sinner | |
|
| Valérie: | playin' my music in the sun... I love Steve Miller Band! |
| Jack: |
| je suis a joker | | je suis a smoker | | je suis a mid-night toker | | I get my lovin' on the run | | Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh | |
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| Valérie: | Très bien ! Try “he is” and “she is”, in French. “il est” et “elle est”. |
| Jack: | Il est a doctor, elle est a teacher... |
| Valérie: | Il est médecin. Elle est professeur. Très bien! Continue ! |
| Jack: | il est funny and elle est beautiful, il est happy and elle est happy too, il est smart and il est tall, il est interesting and il est funny... |
| Valérie: | I think you already said il est funny. |
| Jack: | OK, il est very funny. Now, elle est blonde and elle est French, elle est a student, elle est a friend. |
| Valérie: | Excellent! He and she seem to be very nice people. Well, that’s enough for the first lesson. Let's take a quick break, and then we'll continue tu es, nous sommes, vous êtes, and ils sont. |
