Vous avez été très patient récemment.

Questions & Answers about Vous avez été très patient récemment.

Why do we use avez été to mean 'have been'?
This sentence is in the passé composé (past tense). It uses the helper verb avoir (here, avez) plus the past participle of être (to be), which is the irregular word été. Together, avez été translates perfectly to 'have been'.
Why doesn't patient have an -s at the end if the sentence uses vous?
Vous can mean a plural 'you all', but it is also used as a formal 'you' for a single person. Because patient doesn't have an -s at the end (which would make it plural) or an -e (which would make it feminine), we know the speaker is respectfully talking to exactly one man.
Is there a spoken link (liaison) between avez and été?
Yes! Because avez ends in a consonant and été starts with a vowel, you link them together when speaking. You will hear a 'z' sound connecting the words, sounding like 'a-vay-zay-tay'.
Why does récemment go at the very end of the sentence?
In French, longer adverbs of time, like récemment (recently), usually go at the very beginning or the very end of the sentence. This is different from short adverbs (like beaucoup or bien), which often get tucked right after the conjugated verb.

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