英：being;法：etre;德：Sein
拉康对于“存在”一词的使用，给他的话语引入了某种形而上学的论调，从而使他的话语有别于拒绝从事其形而上学与哲学基础的大多数其他精神分析理论学派 (见：E, 228)。拉康认为，精神分析家们必须要介入这样的关切，因为当他进行干预的时候，他的行动“便走向了【分析者的】存在的核心”，而这同样也会影响到他自身的存在，因为他无法“单独置身在游戏的场域之外”(E, 228). 因此，“分析家必定要在与存在的关系之中找到自己的操作性层面”(E, 252)。拉康同样指出，在治疗的过程期间，随着分析家渐渐被化约为对于分析者而言的一个纯粹的对象，他也会经受一种进行性的存在的丧失 (法：desetre).
拉康有关存在的讨论，明显受到了马丁·海德格尔思想的影响 (见：Heidegger, I927)。存在属于象征秩序，因为正是“在与大他者的关系之中，存在找到了自己的地位”(E, 251)。此种关系，就像大他者本身那样，也是由一个缺失 (nanque)所标记的，而主体是由此种存在之缺失 (manque-a-etre)所构成的，这一存在之缺失便引发了欲望，即某种“存在之想望”(英：want-to-be; 法：manqueà-trc): 因而，欲望在本质上是一种对于存在的欲望。
每当拉康把存在与实存 (EXISTENCE)对立起来的时候，他都是在把存在的象征功能与实在界中的实存形成对照。因而，某种事物可能“存在”(bc)而不“实存”(existing), 即当它是从言语中被建构出来，但在实在界中找不到任何对应物的时候 (例如：完整的大他者)。反之，某种事物可能“实存”(exist)而不“存在”(being), 譬如主体的“无法言说的、愚蠢的实存”便无法被完全化约为一种能指的链接 (E, 194).
拉康根据动名词“存在”(etre)与动词“言说”(parler)创造了“言在”(parletre)这一新词，以强调他的观点，即存在是在语言中并通过语言而构成的。人类的存在首先是一种言说的存在 (speaking being)。
(etre) Lacan's use of the term 'being'introduces a metaphysical note to his discourse thatdistinguishes it from most other schools of psychoanalytic theory, which refuse to engagewith their metaphysical and philosophical foundations (see E, 228). Lacan argues that itis necessary for psychoanalysts to engage with such concerns, for when the analystintervenes his action 'goes to the heart of [the analysand's]being', and this also affectshis own being, since he cannot'remain alone outside the field of play' (E, 228). Hence 'itis certainly in the relation to being that the analyst has to find his operating level' (E, 252). Lacan also argues that during the course of the treatment the analyst is subjected toa progressive loss ofbeing (Fr. Desetre), as he is gradually reduced to being a mere objectfor the analysand.
Lacan's discussion of being is clearly influenced by the ideas of Martin Heidegger (see Heidegger, 1927). Being belongs to the symbolic order, since it is 'the relation to the Other in which being finds its status' (E, 251). This relation, like the Other itself, ismarked by a lack (manque), and the subject is constituted by this lack of being (manque-d-etre), which gives rise to desire, a want-to-be (manque-d-etre); desire is thus essentiallya desire for being.
Whenever Lacan opposes being to EXISTENCE, it is with existence in the real, whichcontrasts with the symbolic function of being. Something may thus be without existing. When it is constructed from speech but finds no correlate in the real (e.g.the complete Other). Conversely, something may exist without being, such as the 'ineffable, stupid existence'of the subject, which cannot be completely reduced to a signifying articulation (E, 194).
Lacan coins the neologism parletre from the verbal noun etre (being) and the verbparler (to speak) to emphasise his point that being is constituted in and through language. A human being is above all a speaking being.