étais vs êtes, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“étais” is a noun and “êtes” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#358
“étais” frequency rank: #362
“êtes” frequency rank: 720
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	étais	êtes
Definition	Pluriel de étai.	Deuxième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de être.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set étais and êtes apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch

étais

4 ch

êtes

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: étais is \e.tɛ\ while êtes is \ɛt\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 720, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

étais is recorded at frequency rank #358, classified as anoun, pronounced \e.tɛ\. êtes is at rank #362, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɛt\.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 720, this pair ranks #439,224 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of étais vs êtes

Shared letters: st. Private to "étais": aié. Private to "êtes": eê.

"étais" · 5 letters · shape VCVVC · "êtes" · 4 letters · shape VCVC

Frequency comparison

étais#358

êtes#362

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "étais" and "êtes" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "étais" is a noun and "êtes" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "étais" or "êtes"?

"étais" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #358 in our French list, against #362 for "êtes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering étais vs êtes

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “étais”; for a verb, it's “êtes”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “étais” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable