The most important verb “être” ( to be ) in French.

The mother of all verbs in any language is “être” which means “to be” in English and in Hindi the verb is “Hoona” (होना)

Let me explain it to you using our mother tongue Hindi.

In Hindi the “Hoona” (होना) verb will be conjugated with the pronouns as :

मैं हूँ (mai~ hu~) = I am

तू है (tu hai) = You (intimate) are / तुम हो (tum ho) = You are

वह है (voh hai) = He/She/It/That is
हम हैं (ham hai~) = We are

आप हैं (aap hai~) = You are

वे हैं (ve hai~) = They are

The 1st three are 1st person singular, 2nd person singular & 3rd person singular and the last three are plural i.e 1st person plural, 2nd person plural & 3rd person plural.

Similarly in French the verb “être” (होना) is conjugated as :

Je suis

Tu es

Il / elle est

Nous sommes

Vous êtes

Ils /Elles Sont

Here too, the 1st three are 1st person singular, 2nd person singular & 3rd person singular and the last three are plural i.e 1st person plural, 2nd person plural & 3rd person plural.

Just like in Hindi where “Tu/Tum” is informal, in French too Tu is informal and just like as in Hindi “Aap” is for respect as well as to denote more then one person, in French too “Vous” is used for giving respect and also denotes more then one person.

For Example to your mother ( who is only one ) you will address as “आप” in Hindi and “Vous” in French but at the same time you will address a large gathering as “आप” in Hindi and “Vous” in French. So “आप” and “Vous” have dual usage in both the languages.

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