This is part of the section Present Tense in French.

French Verbs – Present Tense of Avoir and Être

Avoir (‘to have’) and être (‘to be’) are two of the most commonly used verbs in both French and English, so it makes sense to start with these as you will be using them all the time! In this lesson, we take a look first at the present tense of these two verbs.

What Is a Verb and How Do They Work in French?

If you’re completely new to French verbs and want to know what a verb is, what we mean by ‘present tense’ and how all this works in French, then this lesson will introduce all the key grammar concepts and terms used in this lesson.

Verbs in French

Part 1: Avoir

Watch the video as many times as you need, until you feel you can give the French translations as we go!

Now we can see what we’ve learned. Look at the English and see if you can provide the French for the following:

I have
j’ai
You have (informal)
tu as
He has, it has
il a
She has, it has
elle a
We have
nous avons
You have (formal, pl.)
vous avez
They have (masc. pl.)
ils ont
They have (fem. pl.)
elles ont

Part 2: Être

Now we can see what we’ve learned. Look at the English and see if you can provide the French for the following:

I am
je suis
You are (informal)
tu es
He is, it is
il est
She is, it is
elle est
We have
nous sommes
You are (formal, pl.)
vous êtes
They are (masc. pl.)
ils sont
They are (fem. pl.)
elles sont

Quick Quiz – Written Recall

Can you fill in the blanks to complete the verbs we learned?

Test Yourself