1.17: Structure - Pronoms sujets
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- 104354
In this section, you will learn about subject pronouns.
Listen to the audio clips that follow on this page to hear the French pronunciation of vocabulary and examples presented.
On étudie !
Les pronoms sujets
A "subject pronoun" (pronom sujet) substitutes for a subject noun with a simpler form, usually one syllable long. For example, the man can be replaced by he in a conversation (The bold type indicates the subject of each sentence):
The man is my friend ➔ He is my friend.
s.
The same applies to more complex subject noun phrase like this:
The big man over there with the blue shirt likes pizza ➔ He likes pizza.
complex s.
Here are the French subject pronouns:
| Français | Anglais |
|---|---|
| je | I |
|
tu vous |
you (casual, informal) you (formal, singular) |
|
il elle on ce |
he she one, we it, this |
| nous | we |
| vous | you (plural) |
|
ils elles |
they (masculine) they (feminine) |
L’identité de genre : Le pronom iel
In French many people now use pronouns such as ol, al, ul or yul to refer to a gender-neutral or non-binary (NB) individual. The most common NB, neutral pronoun is iel, sometimes spelled as iels, iell, ielle, ille, and illes.
Watch this video tutorial to review and practice using subject pronoiuns in French: Les pronoms personnels sujets en français.
The following chart is organized in a way that makes it easier to remember how pronouns and verbs are different from each other. It distinguishes between (a) singular and plural forms, on the one hand, and (b) 1st, 2nd and 3rd persons, on the other:
| personne | singulier | pluriel |
|---|---|---|
| 1ère personne | je | nous |
| 2e personne | tu, vous | vous |
| 3e personne | il, elle, on, ce | ils, elles |
1st, 2nd and 3rd person are three different points of view:
- In the 1st person, the speaker is talking about himself, herself, themselves: (I, me, we, us.): For example: "I am happy; we are happy."
- In the 2nd person, the speaker is talking about the person he or she is talking to (you, y'all, you guys). For example: "You are happy. You guys are happy."
- In the 3rd person, the speaker is talking about someone else who is usually absent from the conversation: "She is happy. They are happy."
- Vous can be singular as a formal way of saying you to one person, or it can be the plural you (y'all) as both a formal and informal way of addressing more than one person.
- Ce is a neutral (or impersonal) pronoun that can be translated to English as it, this or that. For example: Ce n'est pas un crayon (This is not a pencil). We saw this above in c'est.
- On can mean one or you in an impersonal way, like In Paris one eats baguettes or In Paris you eat baguettes, where you means anyone visiting or living in Paris. In most French dialects, on is used instead of nous in everyday conversation. Thus, the sentence, En France, on aime manger du pain could mean In France, WE like to eat bread or In France, ONE likes to eat bread.
- Il, elle, ils, elles. These pronouns don't have to refer to people. For example, la soirée (the party) = elle (it); le fromage (the cheese) = il (it); les livres (the books) = ils (they); les règles (the rules) = elles (they).
Nous vs. on
Nous always means "we" or "us". On, however, can change meaning:
(a) On ≠ nous. On can be an impersonal pronoun like "one", or "you" in English. For example: On mange beaucoup de fromage en France (One eats a lot of cheese in France)
OR
(b) On = nous. On can mean nous (we). For example: On mange beaucoup de fromage en France (We eat a lot of cheese in France)
On ≠ Nous
On can mean "one" or "you" in an impersonal way. For example:
À Paris, on mange des baguettes (In Paris one eats baguettes -or- In Paris you eat baguettes [Because it's what you do in Paris!])
*Notice how in English we often use the pronoun you as an impersonal pronoun, where you means "anyone" visiting or living in Paris. It is "impersonal" because it is not referring to a specific person or group of individuals - just people in general.
On = Nous
The subject pronoun on is often used in place of nous to express "we". In fact, in most French dialects, people use on more than nous in everyday conversation. For example:
Claire et moi, on aime le chocolat. (Claire and I, we love chocolate.)
On est très fatigués. (We are really tired.)
On y va ! (Let's go!)
Always remember: context is everything! For example, the following sentence could mean two different things:
En France on aime manger du pain
It could mean:
(1) In France we like to eat bread. [On = my friends and I = we]
(2) In France one likes to eat bread. [On = people in general = one]
In these examples, you can see how the line almost blurs between "we" and "one" when you speak in generalities.
In everyday speech, you want to get used to saying on instead of nous. In my experience, people rarely ever say nous unless it's for clarification. Here are some examples.
On est mariés. = Nous sommes mariés. (We are married.)
On est américains. = Nous sommes américains. (We are American.)
On est très contents. = Nous sommes contents. (We are very happy.)
Attention: Even though On is grammatically singular, it is treated as a plural when it means "We". That is why you see a pluralizing "-s" at the end of the words mariés, américains and contents above.
Notice how our textbook has sections titled "On parle !" (Let's talk) and "On pratique !" (Let's practice). On means "We" (Let us talk; let us practice)
So, we will often use on instead of nous.
Watch these videos to review differences between on and nous:
- On and nous
- Two ways of saying We
- On en francés (This video explains On from the point of view of Spanish)
Listen to the song "On nous cache tout, on nous dit rien" by the French artist Jacques Dutronc. Lyrics are available while watching the video.
On pratique !
| Pronom sujet | Pronom tonique, disjoint |
|---|---|
| je | moi |
| tu | toi |
| il, elle | lui, elle |
| nous | nous |
| vous | vous |
| ils, elles | eux, elles |
Pour en savoir plus.
Activité A
Repeat what each sentence is saying while replacing the subject with the corresponding subject pronoun. For example: Les professeurs sont du Canada. => Ils sont du Canada.
- Ma mère est chanteuse. ➔ ________.
- Patrick et Léo sont mariés. ➔ ________.
- Charles et moi sommes amis. ➔ ________.
- Marie et Claudette sont là. ➔ ________.
- Georges et toi êtes fatigués ➔ ________.
Activité B
Complétez les phrases avec le pronom sujet qui manquent
Modèle: Jean est grand. ______ est intelligent aussi. ➔ Jean est grand. Il est intelligent aussi.
- Marie et Olivia sont amies. _____ sont françaises.
- Paul et moi, _______ sommes frères.
- ________ êtes fatigués ?
- Matt et Robert sont intéressants. _____ sont musiciens.
- En France, ______ mange du fromage.
On approfondit !
Use the following resources to type accents and/or search for words:
- Accents: ç, à, é, è, â, ê, î, ô, û, ù, ë, ï, ü
- Dictionnaire français-anglais