<p>In French, the <strong>circumflex (^)</strong> on a vowel usually indicates the historical presence of a letter, most commonly <span style="font-style: italic;">s</span> (rarely <span style="font-style: italic;">e</span>). For example, <span style="font-style: italic;">être</span> derives from the Old French word <span style="font-style: italic;">estre</span>, and its plural second person form <span style="font-style: italic;">vous êtes</span> comes from Old French <span style="font-style: italic;">vos estes</span>. So, the circumflex on the first letter of <span style="font-style: italic;">êtes</span> is an indication of the <span style="font-style: italic;">s</span> that disappeared from the word over the centuries.</p>
French conjugation explanation