Learn French: Tu vois un monstre, mais c'est une illusion. - You see a monster, but it is an illusion.

Tu vois un monstre, mais c'est une illusion.

You see a monster, but it is an illusion.

Breakdown of Tu vois un monstre, mais c'est une illusion.

you (informal singular)

Questions & Answers about Tu vois un monstre, mais c'est une illusion.

How do I conjugate the irregular verb voir used here?

Voir (to see) is highly irregular. In the present tense for singular subjects, it drops the -ir and changes to vois for je and tu, and voit for il/elle/on. So both "I see" and "you see" are spelled the exact same way: je vois and tu vois.

Since illusion is a feminine noun, why does the sentence use c'est (it is) instead of elle est?

In French, whenever "it is" is followed by a noun that has an article (like un or une), you must use c'est. You only use elle est or il est when describing something with an adjective by itself, such as elle est effrayante (it is scary).

Is there a trick to knowing the gender of illusion?

Yes! A very reliable rule in French is that almost all nouns ending in -tion or -sion are feminine. That is why it takes the feminine article une.

Could tu vois also mean "you are seeing"?

Exactly! French does not have a separate "verb + -ing" tense for actions happening right now. The simple present tense tu vois covers both "you see" and "you are seeing".