Article: A noun-introducing form: un, une, le, la, les.

Being someone and polite address

Use être to say who someone is. With subject pronouns, you get forms like je suis, tu es, vous êtes, il est and elle est. In this module, adults usually say vous to the learner, and the child Zoé says tu.

French often uses c’est for identifying people or things: C’est Mme Martin. = “This is Mrs Martin.” You can also ask C’est qui ? for “Who is this?” This is a very common A1 pattern.

The learner needs gendered forms when speaking about themself: Je suis content if male, Je suis contente if female. The same applies in set phrases like enchanté / enchantée. Adults also change forms when they speak to the learner: le nouveau voisin for a man, la nouvelle voisine for a woman.

• Je suis le nouveau voisin.I am the new neighbour.

  Je suis la nouvelle voisine.I am the new neighbour.

• Vous êtes Mme Martin ?Are you Mrs Martin?

• Félix est ici.Félix is here.

• Zoé, tu es ici ?Zoé, are you here?

• Je suis content.I am happy.

  Je suis contente.I am happy.

• Enchanté, je suis Lukas.Nice to meet you. I am Lukas.

  Enchantée, je suis Lena.Nice to meet you. I am Lena.

• Il est ici.He is here.

• Elle est là.She is there.

Pronoun: A word for a person or thing: je, tu, il, elle.

Gender: French nouns are masculine or feminine; learn their article. People’s adjective forms can also show sex.

Masculine: A grammatical class with un/le, and person forms such as voisin.

Feminine: A grammatical class with une/la, and person forms such as voisine.

Singular: One person or thing.

Plural: More than one person or thing; subject and noun/adjective forms change.

Adjective: A describing word that agrees with the noun: petit, petite, petits, petites.

Present tense: A verb form for now or a usual activity.

The complete present forms of être are je suis, tu es, il/elle/on est, nous sommes, vous êtes, ils/elles sont. Polite vous addresses one person with the same verb form used for several people. Descriptions still agree with that one person: vous êtes content for a man, vous êtes contente for a woman.

Address one adult man as Monsieur and one adult woman as Madame. Written abbreviations are M. and Mme. Use polite vous for either. The title does not change the conjugation.