17 Comments This discussion is locked.
Let me see if i got this right. When "es" is written alone or followed by a consonant we don't pronounce the "s". But when it is followed by a vowel (such as in this case) we do say the "s" like Z?
I keep forgetting the 'es' form. Is there an easy way to remember which one to choose? (et/es/est)
1006
You could try to remember the difference between "es" and "est" with this trick:
- "es" has 2 letters, and is the 2nd person singular
- "est" has 3 letters, and is the 3rd person singular
"et" is not a verb conjugation, it is a conjunction that means "and".
sephicks- ET, is a link between 2 parts of a sentence. mon frère ET ma soeur. My brother AND my sister.
All French verbs have to be conjugated.
Conjugation of verb "être":
je suis, tu es, il/elle/on est, nous sommes, vous êtes, ils/elles sont.
Grammar. Est: verb. Et: conjunction. The pronunciation is the same, (except if you make the liaison.)
- 1006
Normally, the verb "est" (3rd pers. sing. = "is") is pronounced "è", and is slightly different from the conjunction "et" (= "and"), which sounds like "é".
But please note that:
- In some parts of France, the two are pronounced more or less the same
- our TTS system ("text to speech") pronounces both identically (we will try to fix this asap)
Is it just me or does the slow version sound like she's saying "et" instead of "es"
the pronunciation of "et" and "es" is the same. but you should not confuse a coordinating conjuction with a verb. for your information "you and a woman" would be "toi et une femme".
therefore the "tu" form only exists as subject of the following verb.
The pronunciation of femme on duolingo is kind of like FAM-UH. Do we always pronounce the last letter if it's a vowel?
the right pronunciation is FAM.
you pronounce the last letter if it is another vowel than -e
Yes it does, but in French, you use "femelle" for animals only. So Duo expects a direct translation.
