Learn French: Tu es un garçon.

Tu es un garçon.

You are a boy.

Breakdown of Tu es un garçon.

être

to be

a / an (masculine)

you (informal singular)

le garçon

the boy

Questions & Answers about Tu es un garçon.

Why do we use un here instead of une?

In French, all nouns have a gender. Because garçon (boy) is a masculine noun, we must use the masculine indefinite article un (a/an). If we were talking about a girl (fille), we would use the feminine article une.

What is the little hook mark under the 'c' in garçon?

That is called a cedilla (or cédille in French). It is used to change the hard 'k' sound of the letter 'c' into a soft 's' sound. Without it, garçon would be pronounced with a 'k' sound in the middle!

I've seen est used in other sentences. Why is it es here?

Both es and est are forms of the verb être (to be), but they match with different pronouns. You must use es with tu (tu es = you are). You only use est with third-person subjects like il or elle (il est = he is).

Do I pronounce the 'n' in un garçon?

No. The word un is a nasal vowel, meaning the 'n' isn't fully pronounced as a separate letter. While the 'n' sound sometimes connects to words starting with a vowel, the word garçon starts with a consonant, so the 'n' stays silent.