"To be" — for stating identity, nationality, and profession. The most-used verb in French. Six different forms, all irregular.
Être is a high-frequency irregular verb — like English "to be" — and you'll see it in nearly every introduction sentence. Each subject pronoun takes a different form. Listen carefully: some forms sound similar (es and est are identical to the ear), but the spelling differs. The pretest blanks out être and asks you to pick the right form.
Which form of être fills the blank?