Breakdown of Je suis grand, mais vous êtes petits.
je
I
être
to be
grand
big / tall
petit
small / short
mais
but
vous
you (plural/formal)
Questions & Answers about Je suis grand, mais vous êtes petits.
How do we know if vous means multiple people or just one formal person here?
Why is the 's' pronounced in vous but silent in petits?
The 's' at the end of French words is normally silent, which is why we do not hear it in petits. However, because vous is followed immediately by a vowel in êtes, the 's' connects to the next word and is pronounced like a 'z'. This linking is called a liaison, making the phrase sound like 'voo-zet'.
I thought grand meant 'big' and petit meant 'small'. Why are they translated as 'tall' and 'short'?
When describing the physical height of people, French uses grand to mean 'tall' and petit to mean 'short'. To say a person is big in size, you would use a different word entirely.
What would the sentence look like if a woman was talking to a group of women?
The adjectives would change to match the feminine gender of the subjects. She would add an 'e' to the adjectives to make them feminine: Je suis grande, mais vous êtes petites.
Learn Je suis grand, mais vous êtes petits and more in French
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free