Learn French: Tu es ici.

Tu es ici.

You are here.

Breakdown of Tu es ici.

être

to be

you (informal singular)

ici

here

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Questions & Answers about Tu es ici.

When do I use tu instead of another word for "you"?

In French, tu is the singular, informal word for "you". You use it when talking to exactly one person you know well, like a friend, a family member, or a child. If you were talking to someone in a formal setting or to multiple people, you would use a different word (vous).

Which verb does es belong to?

The word es is the "you" form of the verb être, which means "to be". Just like English changes this verb depending on the person (I am, you are, he is), French does the same: je suis (I am), tu es (you are), and il est (he is).

Since es starts with a vowel, why doesn't tu drop its 'u' like le and la do?

Unlike the articles le and la which drop their vowel to become l' before a vowel, the subject pronoun tu never drops its 'u' in standard written French. You must always write Tu es. You might hear native speakers mush it together into "T'es" in very casual, fast speech, but it is not grammatically correct to write it that way.

Do I pronounce the 's' at the end of es?

No, the 's' at the end of es is completely silent. It is pronounced exactly like est (is), sounding like a short "eh".