The verb "to be". Etre and avoir educational and methodological material on the French language (grade 5) on the topic of Being in French

The verb être is one of the most irregular verbs of all the verbs in French. If verbs had a gender, it would be feminine - there is no logic in its conjugation;), and it inherited this property from its Latin roots. But he also has a burdened heredity: the conjugation être is based on not one (!!), but three Latin verbs. Three, Karl! Well, okay, maybe not three - two and a half. But not alone!

This explains why être has such different bases at different times. Well, really - who will say that these are conjugation variants of the same verb: je suis, je serai, je fus, j"ai été?! That's right - no one.

But I’ll explain everything to you now! :) And everything will become clear.

Since there is no need to talk about the logic of conjugation here, we have no choice but to dive into the etymology of être - only it will give us the key to understanding and remembering its conjugation.

In classical Latin there was an equally irregular verb “to be”, which in the infinitive sounded like this: esse. After the fall of Rome and the rise of vernacular Latin, it became the verb essere. Already something familiar, right? (In Italian it has been preserved in this form to this day). After some centuries, this verb acquired almost its final form. This is how it was written in the second edition of the dictionary of the French Academy, released in 1664:

For about a thousand years from essere he turned into estre. But by this time, the letter “s” in this position had long ceased to be read, so the spelling reform consolidated this fact in the spelling of the letter: in the next, 3rd edition of the dictionary of the French Academy in 1740, this word had already acquired its modern spelling. The circumflex reminds us that a dropped letter “s” once stood nearby.

We've sorted out the infinitive. Let's take a look at the conjugations. This is the present tense of the indicative mood.

It immediately becomes clear where the legs grow from. There are even forms that have not changed at all. The same Latin verb gave in modern French the subjunctive (je sois), the future tense (je serai) and the conditionnel (je serais).

The perfect form of the verb esse - fui - gave the basis for the conjugation of être in the passé simple. Let's compare the ancient form of the verb with the modern one:

Well, it’s clear where the dog rummaged.

And finally, another Latin verb - stare - left its traces in the conjugation être. Its meaning is to stand, not only in the sense of being in an upright position, but to be in general - quite close in meaning to esse. This verb gave rise to three conjugation forms in Old French:

• in imparfait: j"estois (in modern French j"étais),
• in the present participle: estant (today it is étant),
• and in the past participle: esté (modern été)

This verb - stare (stand) - by the way, is very tenacious. It came to all our languages ​​from Proto-Indo-European and, as a result, is present in the same meaning in many languages ​​from this family: in English it is stand, in German stehen, in Italian without change - stare, and even in Russian it is “stand” - do you catch the resemblance? Even the word “stop” has the same roots!

The French verb être is one of the most common verbs in the French language. Typically, it is translated as “to be, exist, live, eat, represent, appear,” although other forms of translation exist. It is often used to describe a state, indicate an object, its property or attribute, location, time frame, or indicate an 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 a given noun is used with an object, 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 verb être belongs to the verbs of the third group, namely irregular verbs, and accordingly does not have any conjugation analogy and has the following conjugation form:

je suis - I am

tu es - you exist

il est - he exists

nous sommes - we are

vous êtes - you exist

ils sont - they exist

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 a sentence can be omitted within the framework of the correct transmission of meaning, this verb cannot be translated.

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 to conjugate verbs in the past tense, in passive constructions, that is, in constructions with the passive participle, and also in the conditional mood. For example:

Je suis allé à bicyclette – I came by 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 together with the preposition à. If a pronoun follows this preposition, then it indicates that the subject belongs to another object, its relationship to another object. For example:

Ce livre est à toi – this book belongs to you

Je suis à vous dans un moment - in a minute I will be at your service

If it is followed by an infinitive, then this indicates (1) the necessity of the phenomenon and engagement in 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 combining the French verb être 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. – It’s light.

In almost all languages, verbs change according to persons and numbers. 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 does not lend itself to any logic. And among them, of course, is "etre".

Conjugating regular verbs in French

It is difficult for a modern person to do without knowledge of English at least at an elementary level. Any travel, meeting with foreigners, interesting highly specialized articles - for all this you need to learn a foreign language. Most often, English is taught in schools, although French is no less important - the information on a driver’s license is duplicated in it. 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.

It is not difficult to remember how the so-called “regular” verbs change. 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 that difficult. But unfortunately,

Not all verbs are so simple in their changes. And these, of course, include être.

Conjugation of basic irregular verbs

It might seem that there are no particular difficulties 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 ones. That is, their forms can only be learned; it is impossible to construct them based on general conjugation rules. What aggravates the problem is that these verbs often act as “links,” that is, they participate in the formation of more complex grammatical structures. But you shouldn’t immediately delve into the question; first you need to find out how these two verbs change.

completely different forms that also have to be learned.

Past and future tense

French has 8 tense forms, two of which are used only in writing. There are also 4 conditionals, subjunctive and imperative, as well as participles and constructions denoting the compassionate voice. That is, there are a total of 21 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 general rules, which means that all its forms must be learned by heart

The complete table will look like this:

Yes, the variety of forms of French verbs is amazing. And all this will have to be memorized. The table shows only etre, the conjugation of which is an excellent example of how unpredictably irregular ones can behave
Verbs. But there are a huge number of them. In fact, fear of irregular verbs should not stop anyone who wants to master French. Not all of these forms are actively used even by native speakers, and everything that is necessary can be memorized by regular practice.

Use of etre

Conjugating this verb may seem complicated - and it is. But you will have to learn all its forms, since you will have to use it constantly.

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

Secondly, it is used to designate states:
Je suis malade. I am sick.

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

So you definitely shouldn’t neglect studying 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. You can easily verify this 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 would be more correct to classify it as “incorrect”. So, before you think about how much you have to suffer while learning foreign languages, you should understand that your native language - Russian - can hardly be called simple.

The first five lessons are a kind of introductory, basic lessons. Starting from the sixth, their material will become a refrain against the background of the new material (because between the fifth and sixth lessons there were summer holidays, and we had a fair amount of time to forget). I am writing this to justify myself. The fact is that sound recordings begin with the third lesson, which means that the first two need to be completed according to my stories on these pages. Fortunately, most of the lessons were devoted to reading rules, and I carefully presented the new material here. Fortunately, there is not much of it.

Let's get acquainted with the rules of reading the French language (on the page with the Rules these are the first sections - right down to the combination of vowels). I will not duplicate the rules themselves here - before moving on, BE SURE to read the page with the Rules if you have not already done so. Here are some exercises that you can do to strengthen your reading skills. In general, the topic of reading rules runs like a red thread through all five lessons.

[i] - i, î, y

Si, nid, pie, ami, titi, pari, île, pile, piste, liste, mine, riz, lit, mite, titre, midi, titane, tirade, tir, prime, il tire, il lit, il dit, il attire, maladie, Marie, livre, caliber, type, myrte, avril, il imite, primitive, Yves, lys, Paris, il a pris

Don't be confused by the word lys (lily) - this is a phonetic exception, the "s" at the end of the word is read.

s- [s] ; [z] between two vowels

Safari, sari, satire, satyre, sanie, sapide, salmis, salive, mise, bise, brise, satiriste, masse, massif, passif, visite, lisse, analyze, analyste, il tisse, il dramatise, saline, salsifis

h- unreadable

Hisse, hie, harpe, il habite, trahi, hilare, habile, malhabile, hippie, hittite, hybride, hydrate, hydre, harpie, harpiste

qu-[k]

Qui, quasi, il quitte, liquide, fabrique, dramatique, lyrique, mystique, quinine, marquis, marquise, hippique, hispanique, dynamique

c– [k], [s] before e, i, y

Active, fictive, cri, classique, crise, critique, victime, article, cidre, civil, ici, milice, cigare, placide, acide, pacifique, cynique, actrice, cycle, cycliste, cyclique

g- [g]; [ž] before e, i, y

Garde, gabarit, gastrite, tigre, gris, granit, garni, image, tirage, tissage, tige, il dirige, girafe, agile, gîte, givre, gifle, Brigitte, gypse, garage, garagiste, gage

Granit is a phonetic exception. Don't be scared! ;)

Bu, cru, écu. bûche, ruche, uni, buffet, cuve, sûr, cure, prune, lune, lutte, plus, flûte, brûlure, plumer, allumer, tissu, nu, nuque, nulle, charnu, minute, planure, numéral, mule, muscle, musée, tumulte, muse, mur, armure, munir, tulle, tube, turque, tunique, tulipe, tunnel, têtu, statue, vertu, étuve, culture, dupe, dune, ducat, duquel, duvet, crédule, ardu, durcir, verdure, figure, vulgaire, virgule, granule, surprise, résultat, utiliser, lunette, Lucie, agriculture, cultiver, lugubre, guttural, Hubert, succès

x- ; in prefixes ex- between vowels

Luxe, luxure, mixture, jouxter, maxime, excuser, exclusive, expulser,

Expurger, exulter, exécuter, ---

Mou, fou, pou, boue, doux, tout, poudre, poule, boule, roule, foule, pouce, couler, poudrer, doubler, bouge, rouge, douze, blouse, louve, lourd, cour, four, vous, mousse, Moscou, Toulouse, Joujou, joug, jour, journal, jouet, joule

[ü] <->[u]

French (like English) uses direct word order. Absolutely every sentence must have both a subject and a predicate - and the sentence must begin with them: first the subject, then the predicate, and then everything else - just like that! The presence of a subject in a sentence (even a formal, untranslatable one) is mandatory.

In French (with rare exceptions) the adjective is placed after a noun. For example, Rive Gauche (literally “left bank”).

In French, nouns and adjectives can be singular or plural. Plural numbers (as in English) are indicated in writing by adding a letter s at the end of a word, which for known reasons unreadable:) (I remind you that the letters -s, -t, -d, -z, -x, -p and -g and their combinations at the ends of words are never pronounced). Thus, the singular and plural are not distinguishable by ear. This is great for a beginner learning a language!

In French, adjectives agree with the noun in gender and number (as in Russian: interesting th novel, interesting and I book, interesting s history), which means that the same adjective can be both masculine and feminine. But unlike the Russian language, everything is simple here: the feminine gender is made from the masculine gender by adding the letter “e” to the end of the word, which is not readable. It would seem that all is well - the letter is not readable, nothing changes by ear, just like with the plural. We're alive! But there's a catch. If a masculine adjective had one of the unreadable letters at the end (-s, -t, -d, -z, -x, -p or -g), then after adding the letter “e” to the end of the word, these “unreadable” the letters turn out to be no longer the last and begin to read: intéressant [interesan] - interesting - and intéressante [interesant] - interesting. Nasal vowels will also lose their magic: brun (brown) in the masculine gender is read as [bra~], and brun e the feminine gender will be read [brün]. Oh how! Let's listen.

And everything would be fine. But here’s the problem that begins to haunt anyone who studies Western European (and maybe not only them) languages: they have a gender of nouns - as it turns out! - absolutely does not coincide with the gender of these same nouns in the Russian language! The book there, for example, is masculine (books), and the table and chair are feminine (chair, table). Great?!

Let's continue. Let's get acquainted with personal pronouns and the first of the four creepiest and most irregular French verbs - the verb être(be).

Please note: in the plate, the underscore character ("_") marks the place where the classic French language takes place. bunch, when the unreadable consonant of the first word is still pronounced if the second word begins with a vowel: vous êtes is read as [vouzet]. Verb conjugation in French être sounds like this:

We see that the French distinguish gender not only in the singular (he/she), but also in the plural (they/"it"). These same “ones” (elles) are used only if we are talking about a certain set of objects (or subjects;), every of which are feminine. If at least one “boy” is included in this set, that’s it, we use “they” (ils). Well, how could it be otherwise!.. ;-)

A few words about pronouns on. This is a fictitious pronoun that is used in indefinitely personal sentences (these are sentences like: “they say that chickens are milked”, “tigers are not given meat”). Here we need to make a digression and remind once again that, unlike the Russian language, in which we easily omit the predicate and freely manipulate the place of the subject and predicate in a sentence (words are connected through endings), in French the role and place of the subject and predicate are clearly determined . This means that various kinds of “impersonal” sentences - in the literal sense of the word, that is, sentences in which there is no subject - cannot exist in the French language. For such sentences that are translated into Russian as vaguely personal (for example, “In France They say in French"), and this very fictitious subject is used on: “on parle” - this is what they “say”. And the meaning remained, and the law was observed: both the subject and the predicate were in place.

Can you imagine how rarely this formal subject is used? Do we say a lot of impersonal sentences? "Wah! Why should the word bez dela lie, yes!" And the French found a much more frequent use for it in colloquial speech, which cannot but please the beginner. Details are in the second lesson.

More material to study. The verb "to be called" - s"appeler.

Let's hear how its conjugation sounds:

It looks unusual. The fact is that this is a reflexive verb (in Russian such verbs are formed through the ending -sya: “to call”). Literally, this verb should be translated as “I am called”, “you are called”. In French it looks like “I’m calling me”, “you’re calling you”... “we’re calling us”, “you’re calling you” - etc.

I just want to add one thought. Briefly it sounds like this:

"Just don't be scared."

If we present it in detail...

You probably held a hologram in your hands. The cool thing about the hologram is that it allows you to look beyond the frame and see what is there “on the sides” - for example, to the right of the right border. A hologram is not just a stereo image, like in a stereo movie or on a stereo postcard. It's like a window (viewport in scientific terms) through which you view the scene. By moving in front of this window and looking to the side, you can see what is going on there above, below, to the left or to the right of the boundaries of the hologram, as well as what is behind, behind the objects in the scene - you just need to look BEHIND them at the right angle - exactly, as in real life. This is the trick of the hologram.

If you cut off a small part of the hologram, as a rule, you will still be able to see the same scene - as if you simply reduced the window from this edge (the same viewport) through which you look at this scene - you just need to dodge more to look beyond the new edge of the frame.

This happens because in a hologram, information about the scene is not stored (localized) in one place, as in a flat picture. Data about all points of the scene are distributed over the entire area of ​​the hologram - even by cutting off a piece, you do not permanently delete part of the scene, but only reduce it share of knowledge about this part - but not everything.

It’s not for nothing that I started talking about the hologram here. I am sure that after completing the first lesson, you were horrified by the volume that “needs to be remembered” (as you undoubtedly now think) right at the very beginning. In fact, everything is NOT like that at all. And our knowledge is structured like the hologram that I just described. DO NOT REMEMBER what you read today. Now a small record has been made in your brain about this knowledge. It is far from final. It does not need to be knocked out, as in granite, with a stone cutter. There is no need to try to remember everything you heard (or read) in one lesson. True memorization occurs only through repetition. Know that this knowledge will be given to you again in other lessons and audio dictionaries REPEATEDLY. As a result, in different parts of your brain, with many multi-colored strokes over many, many steps, your knowledge of the French language will be drawn, like in a hologram.

This is exactly the point of these lessons.

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 complex tenses in French.
The verb être belongs to the third group of verbs and has special conjugation forms in almost all tenses. In this case, either the original verb root or a morpheme different from the verb root is used as a basis. As a rule, the conjugation of the verb être is learned by heart. Below is the conjugation of the verb être in the present (Présent), past complete (Passé composé), past incomplete (Imparfait), as well as the simple future tense (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” is combined with names of professions, descriptions of conditions, etc. in Russian, as a rule, it is omitted. Unlike the Russian language, in French there is a subject indicating the type of 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 when conjugating all reflexive verbs(se séparer, s"arrêter, etc.) and 15 verbs in complex tenses. These include the so-called “intransitive” verbs, denoting state or movement:
aller (to go), arriver (to arrive), descendre (to go down), devenir (to become),

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

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

tomber (to fall), venir (to come).

For example: je me suis arrêté - I stopped; je suis venu - I have come; elle est sortie - she came 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 listed 15 verbs 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 into the closet.
The auxiliary verb être is replaced by avoir also in the case of an object in the genitive case, i.e. when the conjugated verb becomes transitive:
il a monté l’escalier - he climbed 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. To do this, take the original root of the verb, or a verbal morpheme. To speak correctly, you need to remember these forms.

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 proffesseur. - I'am a teacher. (Not “I am a teacher”)
. Elle est très riche. - She is very rich.
. Le chat botté est mon héros aimé. - Puss in Boots is my favorite hero.

In French, there are a number of phrases in which the verb “être” can also be omitted during translation, or translated by another verb that is related in meaning to 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 chest of drawers. Towels are in the chest of drawers.
. 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 by conjugating a 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 lavée. - She didn’t wash her face.

It is worth paying attention to the fact that the first sentence uses a masculine participle, and the second – a feminine one. This is evidenced by the added “e” in the participle of the verb “se laver”.

Also, the verb “être” will be auxiliary when forming complex tenses with “intransitive” verbs denoting movement or state:
. naître - to be born
. mourir - to die
. tomber - to fall
. aller - to go, to go
. arriver - to come, to arrive
. partir - leave, leave
. venir - to come, to come
. 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 arrived at the platform.

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

The verb être can also be used in stable phrases. In the third person singular, in combination with the pronoun il, it forms the 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 now.

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