FRENCH NOTE 19 -ÊTRE /AVOIR
French Auxiliary Verbs " être " and " avoir"
You won't find the two most important verbs under any of the normal three groups of French verbs.
They are a class unto themselves. When you join a French class,even in the beginning , they introduce these two verbs. They are so fundamental to French language like " to be" and " to have" in English.
These two verbs have an important role to play in French grammar. Let us talk something about each of them.
ÊTRE -TO BE
As you know , the above is the infinitive form of the verb. But in conjugation ,this verb in different tenses and moods, takes various forms which do not reassemble each other. In other words, " être " is one of the most irregular verbs of French . The conjugation in the present / indicative mood is as follows.
Je suis
Tu es
Il / elle est
Nous sommes
Vous êtes
Ils/elles sont
I am reminded of Shakespeare ' s Hamlet, his basic question , " to be or not to be".
The well known French philosopher Jean Paul Sartre authored a philosophical treatise
entitled " l'Étre et le Néant " ( Being and nothingness ). The subject of " being " is of great philosophical interest with which we are not concerned here. I just mentioned it in passing.
" être " indicates the existence of something. That is its basic meaning. But here we are interested its use in normal communication.
You are using this verb to tell your profession and nationality .
Je suis avocat.
Je suis professeur .
Elle est infirmière .
Please note the absence of definite article before the profession .
Je suis indien.
Il est américain .
Elle est française .
Nous sommes espagnols.
Remember that there is no need to put capital letter for nationality unlike in English. But when you want to say French nationals ,you should say , " LES FRANÇAIS ". In the above examples , the words are adjectives .
The verb "être" can be used to indicate possession.
Cette maison est à moi.
This house is mine.
This house belongs to me.
Cette voiture est à Jean .
This car belongs to John.
ÊTRE +À+NOUN/TONIC PRONOUN
Remember the above structure to use the verb correctly to indicate possession.
Further if you want to express your location , you can use this verb.
ÊTRE +À+PLACE
Maintenant, mon père est à Londres.
Now my father is in London.
For expressing the date and time , we use this verb.
Aujourd'hui , c'est le 11 décembre 2014.
Nous sommes le 11 décembre 2014.
There are two ways of telling the date as mentioned above.
Quelle heure est-il ?
What time is it ?
Il est 7 heures .
It is 7am.
This verb is also called a copulative verb as it connects a subject with its attribute.
Marie est grande.
Marie is tall.
Subject+être + attribute
In several impersonal expressions , " être " is used.
Il est facile.....
Il est difficile ...
Il est impossible
Il est probable ....
There are hundreds of idiomatic expressions involving " être" . In the course of my postings here, surely I will be touching on them.
At the end, I am explaining its role as an auxiliary verb.
I had already mentioned in my French Note 17 about tenses in simple and composite forms.
All composite forms conjugate with the help of one of the auxiliary verbs , either , " être" or " avoir". Certain verbs conjugate only with " être ".
The conjugation in composite forms will be taken up later.
In my next note I shall take up " avoir"
Happy learning .
Sayee Jayaraman
11/12/2014
26/01/2015
French Auxiliary Verbs " être " and " avoir"
You won't find the two most important verbs under any of the normal three groups of French verbs.
They are a class unto themselves. When you join a French class,even in the beginning , they introduce these two verbs. They are so fundamental to French language like " to be" and " to have" in English.
These two verbs have an important role to play in French grammar. Let us talk something about each of them.
ÊTRE -TO BE
As you know , the above is the infinitive form of the verb. But in conjugation ,this verb in different tenses and moods, takes various forms which do not reassemble each other. In other words, " être " is one of the most irregular verbs of French . The conjugation in the present / indicative mood is as follows.
Je suis
Tu es
Il / elle est
Nous sommes
Vous êtes
Ils/elles sont
I am reminded of Shakespeare ' s Hamlet, his basic question , " to be or not to be".
The well known French philosopher Jean Paul Sartre authored a philosophical treatise
entitled " l'Étre et le Néant " ( Being and nothingness ). The subject of " being " is of great philosophical interest with which we are not concerned here. I just mentioned it in passing.
" être " indicates the existence of something. That is its basic meaning. But here we are interested its use in normal communication.
You are using this verb to tell your profession and nationality .
Je suis avocat.
Je suis professeur .
Elle est infirmière .
Please note the absence of definite article before the profession .
Je suis indien.
Il est américain .
Elle est française .
Nous sommes espagnols.
Remember that there is no need to put capital letter for nationality unlike in English. But when you want to say French nationals ,you should say , " LES FRANÇAIS ". In the above examples , the words are adjectives .
The verb "être" can be used to indicate possession.
Cette maison est à moi.
This house is mine.
This house belongs to me.
Cette voiture est à Jean .
This car belongs to John.
ÊTRE +À+NOUN/TONIC PRONOUN
Remember the above structure to use the verb correctly to indicate possession.
Further if you want to express your location , you can use this verb.
ÊTRE +À+PLACE
Maintenant, mon père est à Londres.
Now my father is in London.
For expressing the date and time , we use this verb.
Aujourd'hui , c'est le 11 décembre 2014.
Nous sommes le 11 décembre 2014.
There are two ways of telling the date as mentioned above.
Quelle heure est-il ?
What time is it ?
Il est 7 heures .
It is 7am.
This verb is also called a copulative verb as it connects a subject with its attribute.
Marie est grande.
Marie is tall.
Subject+être + attribute
In several impersonal expressions , " être " is used.
Il est facile.....
Il est difficile ...
Il est impossible
Il est probable ....
There are hundreds of idiomatic expressions involving " être" . In the course of my postings here, surely I will be touching on them.
At the end, I am explaining its role as an auxiliary verb.
I had already mentioned in my French Note 17 about tenses in simple and composite forms.
All composite forms conjugate with the help of one of the auxiliary verbs , either , " être" or " avoir". Certain verbs conjugate only with " être ".
The conjugation in composite forms will be taken up later.
In my next note I shall take up " avoir"
Happy learning .
Sayee Jayaraman
11/12/2014
26/01/2015
No comments:
Post a Comment