3/6/2020 French Subject Pronouns - je, tu, il, elle, nous, vous, ils, elles - Lawless French Grammar

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Subject Pronouns

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Pronoms sujets

Subject pronouns are a type of personal pronoun (https://www.lawlessfrench.com/grammar/personal-pronouns/) that indicate who or what is performing the
action of a verb.

Par exemple…

Je suis prêt.   I‘m ready.

Nous devons partir.   We need to leave.

Characteristics of subject pronouns

1. Serve as the subject of verbs

2. May be singular or plural, masculine or feminine to agree with the noun (subject) they replace

French subject pronouns

The different subject pronouns are determined by number and person.

Number is divided into “singular” (one) and “plural” (more than one).

Person includes “first person” (the speaker), “second person” (the listener), and “third person” (neither the speaker nor the listener).

Thus with two numbers and three persons, there are a total of six grammatical persons, each of which has at least one French subject pronoun:

singular   plural

1st person I je*   we nous

2nd person you tu   you vous

3rd person he, it il   they ils

she, it elle   elles

one, we, they on  

 * Notes

Je is only capitalized (https://www.lawlessfrench.com/grammar/capitalization/) at the beginning of a sentence.

Je contracts (https://www.lawlessfrench.com/pronunciation/contractions/) to j’ in front of a vowel

(https://www.lawlessfrench.com/pronunciation/vowels/) or mute h (https://www.lawlessfrench.com/pronunciation/h-muet/). (Informally, it also
contracts in front of consonants – learn more (https://www.lawlessfrench.com/grammar/informal-pronouns/).)

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 3/6/2020 French Subject Pronouns - je, tu, il, elle, nous, vous, ils, elles - Lawless French Grammar

Par exemple…

J’aime le chocolat.   I like chocolate.

Oui, j’aime le chocolat.   Yes, I like chocolate.

In addition to "he" and "she," il and elle mean “it” when they replace a noun of that gender, so le livre (the book) becomes il and la pomme (the apple) becomes
elle.

Ils is used for men, masculine nouns, and mixed gender groups – it is the default when referring to plural groups.

Elles can be used only for a group of women and/or feminine nouns.

  À noter : There are two French words for "you": learn more (https://www.lawlessfrench.com/grammar/subject-pronouns-tu-vs-vous/).

On is a special case. It can mean "you," "they," or people in general, and it can also be an informal replacement for "we." Regardless of meaning, on is always
conjugated as a third person singular – learn more (https://www.lawlessfrench.com/grammar/subject-pronoun-on/).

 As in English, plural pronouns replace two or more singular pronouns: you and I = we (nous), you and he = you (vous), etc. But when you actually want to use
two singular pronouns – saying something like "you and I" as opposed to "we" – French uses stressed pronouns
(https://www.lawlessfrench.com/grammar/stressed-pronouns/) instead.

   

Quiz: Subject pronouns (https://www.lawlessfrench.com/quizzes-and-tests/subject-pronouns-quiz/)

 Related lessons
All about on (https://www.lawlessfrench.com/grammar/subject-pronoun-on/)

Tu vs vous (https://www.lawlessfrench.com/grammar/subject-pronouns-tu-vs-vous/)

Agreement with vous (https://www.lawlessfrench.com/grammar/agreement-with-vous/)

Informal subject pronouns (https://www.lawlessfrench.com/grammar/informal-pronouns/)

Inversion with je (https://www.lawlessfrench.com/grammar/inversion-with-je/)

Personal pronouns (https://www.lawlessfrench.com/grammar/personal-pronouns/)

The Pronommeur (https://www.lawlessfrench.com/grammar/pronommeur/)

Capitalization (https://www.lawlessfrench.com/grammar/capitalization/)

Contractions (https://www.lawlessfrench.com/pronunciation/contractions/)

Introduction to verb conjugation (https://www.lawlessfrench.com/grammar/verb-conjugation/)

 

(https://www.lawlessspanish.com) En español
Pronombres sujetos (https://www.lawlessspanish.com/grammar/pronouns/subject-pronouns/)
 

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Test yourself on French subject pronouns

1 of 6 Complete the sentence: The word "

select ...

" is the "you" you could use when talking to your boss in French.

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