Tu es malade ?
To ask "are you sick?" in French, you say Tu es malade ?
This phrase is used to ask if someone is currently experiencing an illness or poor health.
Which one should you use?
The form Tu es malade ? is the informal version used for friends, family or children. In contrast, Vous êtes malade ? or Êtes-vous malade? are used for formal situations or when addressing a group of people.
Is it said differently in some regions?
In France, you may hear the phrase Tu n'as pas l'air dans ton assiette? to mean "You don't seem well?"
How does it change in a sentence?
When speaking to a stranger, a superior or a group of people, use the form Vous êtes malade ?
What mistakes should you avoid?
While Es-tu malade ? is grammatically correct, it is much more formal and less common in everyday spoken French than the standard Tu es malade ? used with rising intonation.
Did you know?
- While malade means 'sick', using the phrase Vous êtes malade ! as an exclamation can mean 'You are crazy!' or 'You are insane!'
- Calling someone malade in a slang context can occasionally be used as a compliment to mean they are 'insanely' good at a particular skill.
- In French, the pronoun tu is a cognate with the German du and the Russian ты, all tracing back to the same Proto-Indo-European root.
Examples in context
- Est-ce que tu es malade?Are you sick?
Sources
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries malade, tu, CC BY-SA 4.0.
