Saw this in a tea shop window in Montréal:
thé mon amour
A friend from Central America took a beginner’s French course. In class, they learned that tu es means “you are,” but they never got around to learning that tu es contracts to t’es in spoken language.
This really baffles me. T’es isn’t an obscure contraction. T’es is a high frequency usage that should be introduced right from the beginning.
T’es sounds like té (or like the French word thé in the window).
thé mon amour
tea my love
t’es mon amour
you’re my love
Oh, it’s a Valentine’s Day tea pun!
N’est-ce pas romanteaque? N’est-ce pas — oh, fine, I’ll stop.
A few essential spoken contractions to know using tu:
t’es for tu es
t’as for tu as
t’étais for tu étais
t’avais for tu avais
t’en for tu en
In short, tu loses its u before a vowel.
Don’t be afraid to try using these contractions yourself in conversations. They’re so frequently used that nobody’s going to even notice.
LOL! Bonne journée de Saint-Valentin! (et j’aime tellement les jeux de mots).
Merci! Moi aussi, j’aime les jeux de mots.