Singular 'to be' and indefinite articles (je suis un...)

Nouns and Gender

In French, every noun (a person, place, or thing) is either masculine or feminine. To say "a" or "an", you must use an indefinite article that matches the noun's gender:

• Use un for masculine nouns.
• Use une for feminine nouns.

"I am"

The verb être means "to be". In French, verbs change their form to match the subject of the sentence.

To talk about yourself, use the pronoun je (I). The matching form of être is suis (am).

"You are"

To say "you" to a single person in a casual setting (like a friend or a child), use the informal pronoun tu. Its matching verb form is es (are).

"He, She, and One is"

For the third person, French uses three main singular pronouns:

• il (he)
• elle (she)
• on (one)

All three share the same form of the verb être: est (is). Note that the "t" in est is completely silent!

The pronoun on literally translates to "one" (as in "one is a man"), but in everyday spoken French, it is very frequently used to mean "we".

Summary of the verb être (Singular)