4 Comments

• #1 by mark m on June 8th, 2009

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  Attention, Spanish and French language scholars!?
  Spanish has 2 verbs for “to be”: ‘ser’ and ‘estar’, the former is permanent and the latter, temporary, i.e, Yo soy Americano (I am American) and Como esta Usted? (How are you?).

  Does the French language make a similar distinction, i.e. are there separate verbs for “to be”?

• #2 by Bob on June 8th, 2009

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  No, "être" is both "estar" and "ser" in Spanish. This is due to the fact that in Old French, both "esser" and "ester" evolved into "estre", which became French "être". Note that the "^" indicates that an "s" used to be utilised in the word formerly.
  References :

• #3 by oranda@ymail.com on June 8th, 2009

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  No, as in English, there is just one, être.
  References :
  Eleven years of French in school

• #4 by Josué L on June 8th, 2009

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  I think ‘suis’ is a form of to be… Isn’t it?

  Je suis Français. (I am French)
  References :
  Hispanic American, and I’m in French 1.