AUX or VERB?
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It is sometimes not trivial to chose between the part of speech AUX and VERB for être.
AUX
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être is an AUX:
- when it has a predicative complement (it is considered as a copula)
- when it is a tense auxiliary
- when it is a passive auxiliary
VERB
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être is a VERB:
- when it has an existensial meaning (je pense donc je suis -I think therefore I am)
- when it has a locative argument
- when it has another argument, which is not a predicative argument (je suis pour la dépénalisation du cannabis -I am for the decriminalization of cannabis)
Exitensial meaning
Locative argument
you can find a discussion about the distinction between AUX and VERB in
#11