Learn French: Es-tu prêt à surfer ? - Are you ready to surf?

Es-tu prêt à surfer ?

Are you ready to surf?

Breakdown of Es-tu prêt à surfer ?

être

to be

you (informal singular)

Questions & Answers about Es-tu prêt à surfer ?

Why do we use à here? Could I say prêt de surfer?

The adjective prêt (ready) specifically requires the preposition à when it is followed by an infinitive verb. Many French adjectives must be paired with either à or de before a verb, and there isn't a strict logical rule—they just have to be memorized. To say "ready to do something", the pattern is always prêt à.

How would this sentence change if I were asking a female friend?

You would change the adjective to its feminine form by adding an e, making the sentence Es-tu prête à surfer ?. This is an important change for pronunciation, because adding the e means you will clearly hear the "t" sound at the end of prête.

Is Es-tu the only way to ask this question?

Not at all! Es-tu uses inversion (flipping the subject and verb), which is a slightly more formal way to ask a question. In everyday spoken French, you will more often hear Tu es prêt à surfer ? (just raising your voice at the end) or Est-ce que tu es prêt à surfer ?.

Is surfer a real French verb?