Être and Avoir in French: Conjugation and Uses

Key takeaways:

Être (to be): je suis, tu es, il/elle est, nous sommes, vous êtes, ils/elles sont.
Avoir (to have): j'ai, tu as, il/elle a, nous avons, vous avez, ils/elles ont.
Use avoir for age: j'ai vingt ans (I'm twenty).
Both are irregular, but the two most important verbs in French.
They're also the auxiliaries that build the past tense (passé composé).

Why être and avoir matter so much

Être (“to be”) and avoir (“to have”) are the backbone of French. You use them to describe people, say how you feel, talk about what you own, give your age, and, crucially, form the past tense. Master these two and a huge chunk of everyday French clicks into place.

They’re both irregular, which means you can’t just follow a pattern. The good news is that they’re so common you’ll memorize them fast, simply by using them.

Être (to be): present-tense conjugation

je suis → I am
tu es → you are (informal)
il / elle est → he / she is
nous sommes → we are
vous êtes → you are (formal / plural)
ils / elles sont → they are

You use être to describe characteristics, identity, nationality, and profession:

Je suis fatigué. → I am tired.
Elle est française. → She is French.
Nous sommes prêts. → We are ready.

Avoir (to have): present-tense conjugation

j’ai → I have
tu as → you have (informal)
il / elle a → he / she has
nous avons → we have
vous avez → you have (formal / plural)
ils / elles ont → they have

You use avoir for possession, and for a few expressions where English uses “to be”:

J’ai un chien. → I have a dog.
Nous avons deux enfants. → We have two children.

Here’s the trap English speakers always hit: in French we don’t “be” a certain age, we “have” it. It’s j’ai vingt ans (literally “I have twenty years”), never je suis vingt ans. The same logic gives j’ai faim (“I’m hungry”), j’ai soif (“I’m thirsty”) and j’ai peur (“I’m afraid”). Learn avoir well and half of everyday French suddenly makes sense.

Luca

Être or avoir? The traps to remember

Because English uses “to be” where French uses “to have,” a few expressions catch everyone off guard. With avoir:

J’ai vingt ans. → I am twenty (years old).
J’ai faim / j’ai soif. → I’m hungry / I’m thirsty.
J’ai froid / j’ai chaud. → I’m cold / I’m hot.
J’ai peur / j’ai raison. → I’m afraid / I’m right.

Whenever you’re tempted to say “I am…” for age, hunger, or fear, switch to avoir. To keep building your everyday toolkit, our useful French phrases are a great companion.

They build the past tense too

Être and avoir aren’t just standalone verbs, they’re the auxiliaries that form the passé composé (the main past tense). Most verbs use avoir (j’ai mangé, “I ate”), while a set of movement verbs use être (je suis allé, “I went”). That’s a topic for its own lesson, but it’s a big reason these two verbs are worth learning first. You’ll find more bite-sized guides among our French phrases resources.

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Handy everyday phrases with être

Être shows up in some of the most common expressions in French:

C’est bon. → “It’s good / that’s fine.”
Il est trois heures. → “It’s three o’clock” (être for the time).
Je suis d’accord. → “I agree.”
Être en train de… → “to be in the middle of (doing something).”
Nous sommes le 5 juin. → “It’s June 5th” (être for the date).

A quick practice dialogue

See both verbs working together in a mini exchange:

— Tu as faim ? → Are you hungry?
— Oui, et je suis un peu fatigué aussi. → Yes, and I’m a bit tired too.
— On a une pizza, ça te va ? → We have a pizza, does that work for you?

Notice how avoir handles hunger and possession, while être handles the state of being tired.

How to memorize être and avoir

Because these two verbs are irregular, the trick isn’t logic, it’s repetition in context. Instead of reciting the tables cold, attach each form to a real sentence you’d actually say: je suis fatigué, tu as raison, nous sommes en retard, ils ont faim. Say them out loud, ideally about your own day. Within a week of using them, the forms stop feeling like a list and start coming out automatically. And since être and avoir turn up in almost every French sentence, you’ll get all the practice you need just by speaking.