how to pronounce être

/ɛtʁ/

audio example by a male speaker

audio example by a female speaker

the above transcription of être is a detailed (narrow) transcription according to the rules of the International Phonetic Association; you can find a description of each symbol by clicking the phoneme buttons in the secction below.

être is pronounced in one syllable

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1. example pitch curve for pronunciation of être

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video examples of être pronunciation

An example use of être in a speech by a native speaker of standard french:

“… je pense que ça va être la purge est là …”

meanings of être

verb:

To be.
To be (Used to form the passive voice).
Used to form the perfect and pluperfect tense of certain verbs (including all reflexive verbs).

noun:

Being, creature.

être frequency in french - A1 level of CEFR

the word être occurs in french on average 1876 times per one million words; this frequency warrants it to be in the study list for A1 level of language mastery according to CEFR, the Common European Framework of Reference.