[Originally posted on 12/06/18 on the Duolingo French for English speakers forum by Sitesurf]
Être and Avoir
Être and avoir (“to be” and “to have”) are the most common verbs in French. Like many common verbs, they have irregular conjugations.
| Subject | Être (“to be”) | Avoir (“to have”) |
|---|---|---|
| je/j’ | (je) suis | (j’)ai |
| tu | es | as |
| il/elle/on | est | a |
| nous | sommes | avons |
| vous | êtes | avez |
| ils/elles | sont | ont |
There should be a “z” liaison between ils or elles and ont [il-zɔ̃] or [ɛl-zɔ̃]. The “z” sound is essential here to differentiate between “they are” and “they have”, so be sure to emphasize it.
These two verbs are very important because they can act as auxiliary verbs in French, but they differ from their English equivalents. “I write” and “I am writing” both translate to j’écris, not je suis écrivant (the present participle of écrire). This is because être cannot be used as an auxiliary in a simple tense. It can only be used in compound tenses, which you will learn in the “Passé Composé” unit.
Another important distinction is that avoir means “to have” in the sense of “to possess”, but not “to consume” or “to experience”. Other verbs must be used for these meanings.
Continuous Tenses
English has two present tenses: simple (“I write”) and continuous (“I am writing”), but French has no specialized continuous verb tenses. This means that “I write”, “I am writing”, and “I do write” can translate to j’écris (not je suis écrivant) and vice versa.
However, the idiomatic phrase être en train de is often used to indicate that someone is in the process of doing something.
- Je suis en train de manger. — I am [in the process of] eating.
Most of the time present tense sentences in French can be interpreted in either the present or the present continuous tense in English. Stative verbs in English are an exception to this and have no continuous form. For instance, J’aime un garçon cannot be translated as “I am loving a boy”.
You can learn more about stative verbs here: https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/intermediate-grammar/stative-verbs
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Selected comments on original post
Then,there are not present continuons tenses in French, but the example ..(être en train)?. I’m a little confused since even in Spanish ( my native language as well as in English, there are ways to express actions happening in that particular moment
Sitesurf [contributor]
The prepositional phrase “en train de” before an action verb in the infinitive is somewhat emphatic and usually not necessary because the context should tell if the action is habitual or in progress at a given time.
Alternatively, adverbs can be added to clarify the latter meaning, like “maintenant”, “en ce moment” or “actuellement”, for instance, if you don’t see your counterpart, during a phone call or in writing.
A: Qu’est-ce que tu fais ? / Qu’est-ce que tu es en train de faire ? /Qu’est-ce que tu fais en ce moment ? = What are you doing (right now)?
B: Je cuisine / Je suis en train de cuisiner / Maintenant, je cuisine = (Right now,) I am cooking.
You can use “être en train de” in the imperfect as well:
A: Qu’est-ce que tu faisais? / Qu’est-ce que tu étais en train de faire ? / Qu’est-ce que tu faisais à ce moment-là ? = What were you doing (at that time)?
B: Je cuisinais / J’étais en train de cuisiner / Je cuisinais à ce moment-là = (At that time,) I was cooking.
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