French Pronouns Made Simple: A Sensible Information to All 15 Varieties

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Pronouns are the spine of many languages, together with French. Their main operate is to interchange nouns or noun phrases and get rid of repetition in each speech and writing. As soon as context is established, pronouns step in to maintain issues flowing shortly. As an alternative of claiming “Jack” each time you point out him in a dialog, in English, you’d say “he.” 

There are lots of sorts of French pronouns, and every relies on the place it falls in a sentence. Understanding every sort of pronoun may help you higher improvise in dialog. Plus, it truly makes dialog simpler—your sentences shall be easier, shorter, and fewer repetitive. You’ll be capable to say extra with far much less! 

What are French pronouns?

Pronouns change French nouns and get rid of repetition in French sentences and conversations. Probably the most troublesome half about French pronouns is figuring out them in speech, since they’re single-syllable phrases and simply mix into longer sentences.

It’s necessary to do not forget that French pronouns are used as way more than replacements for topics and objects. That’s why there are 15 varieties, which additionally means there are 15 totally different ways in which nouns/pronouns will be positioned in a sentence. You might even see some repetition between the precise pronouns used—me is each a direct and oblique object pronoun—however the operate is totally different. 

There are two fundamental classes French pronouns will be categorized into: private and impersonal. 

The 5 sorts of private French pronouns

A private pronoun is a pronoun used to designate an individual (animals included). In English, these would come with “you,” “I,” “he,” “she,” or “her.” 

French grammar provides loads of methods to signify the particular person in query with out endlessly repeating their title every time you wish to point out them in a dialog.

French topic pronouns

A topic pronoun is used as the topic in a sentence. The topic of a sentence is the noun that produces the motion of the verb.

• Aujourd’hui, j’ai marché jusqu’au magasin. = I walked to the shop at this time. 
• Il va au supermarché. = He goes to the grocery store.

Right here, il, or “he,” is the topic that engages within the verb va (go). Discover how the English translation is “he” and never “him.” “Him” is an object in English, moderately than a topic. Understanding these distinctions in your individual language helps you perceive them higher in one other.

In French, on could imply the impersonal or hypothetical “one”  or “we.” And you should use both ils or elles to say “they.” Observe the excellence within the following examples:

• On est responsable de tous les dégâts. = One/We/They is/are liable for all of the damages.
• Ils font trop de bruit ! = They are making an excessive amount of noise!

French direct object pronouns

Direct object pronouns are, as their title suggests, pronouns which are used as direct objects in a sentence. An object is the noun that receives the motion of the verb. “Direct” signifies that there are not any French prepositions or different objects that come between it and the verb. Take this instance:

• Je l’aime. = I like her. 

“Her” is a direct object—it’s receiving the love and has no different objects to compete with that additionally obtain this motion. The total pronoun on this instance is la to match the grammatical gender of the direct object, however we’re utilizing the contracted model (l’) right here to get rid of the side-by-side vowels (la aime).

You may be questioning why the direct object pronoun comes earlier than, moderately than after, the verb. It is a main distinction between English and French. In English, objects come after the verb, in French, they arrive earlier than it.

It’s obligatory to notice that sure verbs in French robotically render sure pronouns as direct objects. For instance: 

• Je le cherche. = I’m in search of him. 

In English, “him” is an oblique object. However in French, the verb chercher doesn’t have a preposition after it, so any object that receives its motion is direct. 

Observe how the French grammatical gender of the noun that les represents doesn’t have an effect on its type. Whether or not it’s a bunch of masculine or female nouns, all of it will get grouped into les.

• Je les adore. = I am keen on them.

French oblique object pronouns

Oblique object pronouns are like direct ones, solely they aren’t the primary to obtain the motion of the verb. These pronouns are objects that additionally obtain a verb’s motion however share it with others. In some circumstances, these are objects which are merely preceded by a preposition. Oblique objects usually reply the query “To whom/what?” or “For whom/what?” when referencing the motion.

• Je lui donne le journal. = I’m giving him the journal.

“Him” is the oblique object as a result of “journal” is the direct object of the verb “giving.” 

Examples: 

• Je lui parle du live performance. = I’m speaking to him concerning the live performance.
• Nous leur enseignons l’Histoire au lycée = We train them World Historical past in highschool.

French prepositional object pronouns

Along with the pronouns within the earlier part, there’s one other group of pronouns that operate with prepositions as oblique objects. These are referred to as prepositional object pronouns. They will solely be oblique objects and, as such, are all the time preceded by a preposition. 

• Cette half de tarte est pour moi. = This piece of pie is for me.

Within the desk under, you’ll discover that among the private prepositional object pronouns are the identical ones we’ve beforehand seen as topic, direct object, and oblique object pronouns, like nous and vous.

Examples: 

• Les filles sont déçues parce que leurs dad and mom ne sont pas partis en vacances avec elles. = The ladies are disenchanted as a result of their dad and mom didn’t go on trip with them.
• Il nous a finalement répondu au bout de trois jours ! = He lastly responded to us after three days!

French reflexive pronouns

Should you’ve reviewed the pronoun varieties above, it is best to have a stable grasp of what a topic and object are in a sentence. Understanding that is key to wrapping your head round reflexive pronouns! 

Reflexive pronouns are object pronouns whose topic is identical as the article it represents. One other manner of describing them could be as object pronouns that replicate their topic. For instance: 

• Il veut le faire lui-même. = He needs to do it himself.

Just like how sure French verbs have the built-in preposition à, rendering their object pronouns oblique, there’s additionally a set of verbs which are all the time or principally used with reflexive pronouns. It is not uncommon observe to precise these verbs within the third particular person singular type of s’ + infinitive verb.

Examples:

• Je m’appelle Tom. = My title is Tom. (actually, I name myself Tom.)
• Ils se baignent dans la mèr. = They’re swimming within the ocean. (They themselves are swimming within the ocean.)

The 9 sorts of impersonal pronouns in French 

The impersonal pronouns discuss with normal objects and individuals moderately than any particular one like “you” or “them.” Impersonal pronouns may be the English equal of phrases like “these/these” and different occasions as pronouns of place like “right here/there.” Different occasions, they could operate as possessive pronouns like “his” or “their.” 

Impersonal French topic pronouns 

Impersonal topic pronouns in French are grammatically the identical as their private pronoun counterparts in that they operate as topics that “provoke” the verb in a sentence. Nevertheless, as their title suggests, they’re impersonal. So, moderately than the usual je, tu, and il/elle/on, you may have ce and il to designate impersonal expressions or verbs that don’t have any agent.  

• It is important to do the dishes. = Il faut faire la vaisselle.

On this sentence, the verb falloir (to be essential to) isn’t being initiated by any particular person, factor, or actor who’s liable for the verb (what’s known as “company”). 

Examples: 

• Il pleut. = It’s raining
• C’est absurde ! = That is absurd.
• Qui est à la porte ? = Who is on the door?

You’ve in all probability already come throughout ce with out even noticing it, because it’s featured in lots of sentences that include the contraction ce + être = c’est (it’s/that’s).  

French adverbial pronouns

The 2 French adverbial pronouns are y and en. They every substitute nouns that may be adopted by a preposition. As all the time, these pronouns are positioned earlier than the verb of which they’re an object.

You’ll use y to interchange a noun and any of those prepositions that precede it: 

• à (to/in/at)
• en (in/into/to)
• dans (in/within)
• chez (on the home of/place of)

Y represents nouns of place, particularly those who somebody goes to or spending time at. There may be one quite common exception although! Y is all the time used with penser (as in, desirous about one thing) as a result of the truth that penser is all the time adopted by à. 

You’ll use en to interchange a noun and its previous preposition when that noun is adopted by de (of). Since there’s just one possibility, this one is kind of simple to recollect! En represents somebody or one thing that’s from someplace. It may well change nouns of place like “right here” or “there.” It may also be used as an alternative choice to “about,” as in, “We have been speaking concerning the climate.” 

Keep in mind that French makes use of totally different prepositions than English—there isn’t all the time a direct translation between them. Additionally word which you could’t use y or en to interchange your oblique object pronouns. For example, you’ll be able to’t say J’y écris as a substitute of Je lui écris (I’m writing to him).

Examples: 

• Oui, j’y vais. =  Sure, I’m going there.
• Il y a trop de règles ! J’en suis fatigué ! = There are too many guidelines! I’m uninterested in them!

French relative pronouns

Right here is the place you’ll actually need your data of what a topic and an object are, in addition to verbs in French which have the in-built prepositions of à and de. These will make it easier to use the relative pronouns que, qui, dont, où, and lequel. 

The desk under offers their English translations in addition to what prepositions these pronouns can observe in a sentence.

In English, you would possibly say, “Who’re you talking to?” Nevertheless, in French, you’d say one thing nearer to “To whom are you talking?” (À qui est-ce que tu parles ?).

Right here’s an inventory of examples that use every relative pronoun: 

• Le magasin qui venait juste d’ouvrir, était soudainement fermé. = The shop that simply opened was instantly closed.
• À qui appartient ce portefeuille ? = Who does this pockets belong to?
• La voiture que tu as achetée est belle ! = The automobile (that) you purchased is gorgeous!
• La maison dont je m’occupe est en bon état. = The home that I’m taking good care of is in good situation.
• Le jour où tu es venu nous rendre visite était très spécial. = The day (when) you came around us was very particular. 
• C’est la maison dans laquelle j’ai grandi. = That’s the home I grew up in. 

French indefinite pronouns

In French, indefinite pronouns are utilized in the identical manner they’re in English: to discuss with individuals, locations, or issues with out saying precisely who or what they’re. For instance: 

• Tu peux les utiliser, mais certains ne fonctionnent pas. = You should utilize them if you’d like, however sure ones don’t work.

In French, there isn’t any further phrase wanted to strengthen a pronoun just like the “ones” does for “sure ones” in English. The pronoun alone will do. It should, in fact, agree in quantity and adjective with the noun it describes although, because the desk under particulars.

Check out how they’re utilized in a sentence: 

• Il ne se préoccupe pas des autres. C’est pourquoi il n’a personne pour l’aider. = He doesn’t care about others. That’s why he has nobody to assist him.
• Regarde ! Il n’y a personne ! = Look! There’s nobody (right here)!
• Toutes sont très intelligentes ! = All (the women) are very clever!

French possessive pronouns

Possessive pronouns are ones that point out possession by somebody or one thing, similar to mine, his/her/its, ours, theirs, and so on. There may be extra complexity to this in French than in English although. As we’ll see under:

• Son moveable ne marche pas. = Her cellphone isn’t working.

In French, the “his/her” pronoun indicating possession modifications type in accordance with the gender of the article possessed, moderately than the gender of the possessor. So, within the instance above, the “her” within the sentence truly takes the masculine singular pronoun son, as a result of moveable being a masculine noun. 

Examine the desk under, and ensure to recollect to choose the suitable pronoun primarily based on: 

•  Who or what possesses the article (i.e. whether or not you’re talking within the 1st, 2nd, or third particular person)
• The gender and variety of the possessed object

Examples:

• Bonjour David ! Est-ce que tu as reçu ta valise ? = Whats up David! Did you obtain your suitcase?
• J’ai pris mes valises avec moi.= I took my suitcases with me. 
• Son idée est excellente ! = His/her concept is great!

When the phrase following the possessive pronoun begins with a vowel, we revert again to the masculine type within the case of singular objects. As within the final instance, Son idée est excellente, idée is a female noun, however the truth that it begins with a vowel makes us use the masculine singular pronoun of son.

French demonstrative pronouns

Demonstrative pronouns are made up of an adjective describing a noun, although it’s an adjective describing “this (one)” or “that (one)” explicit factor that’s both “right here” or “there.” It may well additionally simply imply the equal of “one” in English.

• Quel romman est-ce que tu voudrais acheter ? Je vais acheter celui-ci. = Which novel would you wish to buy? I’ll purchase this one. 

Listed below are a number of extra examples: 

• Les robes sont dans la chambre. Celle que tu cherches est sur le lit. = The clothes are within the bed room. The one you might be in search of is on the mattress.
• Où sont les pommes ? Tu sais, celles que j’ai achetées tout à l’heure ! = The place are the apples? You already know, the ones I purchased earlier!

Observe that with celui, ceux, celle, and celles, it may be used alone with -ci (this one) or là (that one) on the finish. 

French indefinite demonstrative pronouns

Indefinite demonstrative pronouns carry out an analogous operate to the particular ones within the part above. Nevertheless, they principally operate as “this” and “that.” There is no such thing as a plural type, as they describe issues that aren’t often quantifiable.

• C’est délicieux = It’s scrumptious! 

Sure, that’s the identical ce that you just say as an indefinite topic pronoun, now showing as an indefinite demonstrative pronoun!

Examples: 

• Cela n’est pas le bon second pour discuter de ça. = That’s not the proper second to debate that.
• Mangez ceci, ne mangez pas cela. = Eat this, don’t eat that.

French damaging pronouns

Destructive pronouns are ones that negate different pronouns. For instance, the negation of “somebody” or “everybody” is “nobody” and the negation of “every part” is “nothing.”

Examples:

• Rien n’est unimaginable. = Nothing is unimaginable.
• On l’a cherché et on ne l’a trouvé nulle half. = We looked for him and willn’t discover him wherever. (or “… discovered him nowhere”)

Discover how the construction will be both: 

• damaging pronoun + ne + verb 
• ne + verb + damaging pronoun

French interrogative pronouns

These are comparatively easy in comparison with earlier classes and serve to handle interrogative, or, query pronouns. Merely put, they’re there to ask “Who?” and “What?”

• Tu fais quoi ? = What are you doing?

Quoi is usually casual. Within the sentence above, the formal phrasing could be Qu’est-ce que tu fais ? Quoi may also be used by itself in a sentence like when one says “What!?” in response to not listening to, understanding, or eager to imagine one thing.

Examples: 

• Qui est-ce que tu aimes ? = Who do you want?
• Que sais-je ? = What do I do know?

Essential French grammar ideas to recollect

There are numerous French grammar guidelines to remember when making use of your data of pronouns. These embody gender, quantity, and ritual. 

Apply gender guidelines to pronouns

As all the time, you will need to keep in mind the gender and singularity or plurality of our nouns. Pronouns are not any exception to this. Once you possess a guide, you will need to keep in mind its gender to be able to use the right pronoun son (masc.) moderately than the female sa. 

Should you’re restating the identical phrase like voitures (automobiles) in a sentence and never eager to repeat this phrase again and again, it’s essential to use the topic pronoun elles as a result of voitures is female and plural.

Acknowledge formal and casual pronouns

The distinction between formality and informality in French applies to all manners of speech, together with pronouns. You’ll must preserve this in thoughts when utilizing: 

• fundamental topic pronouns (tu, vous)
• reflexive pronouns (te, vous)
• possessive pronouns (ton, ta; tes, votre, vos) 
• direct and oblique object pronouns (te, vous) 
• prepositional object pronouns of (toi, vous)

Know when to omit pronouns

Not like in Spanish, you’ll hardly ever see pronouns omitted in French. Since French verb conjugations usually sound or look related, it could make communication fairly troublesome. For instance, if somebody have been to say: 

• (Tu) cherches quoi ? = What are (you) in search of?

It will be troublesome to know whether or not the speaker is asking “What are you in search of?” or asking “What’s he/she in search of?” because of the pronunciation of (tu) cherches and (il/elle) cherche being equivalent.

The one time you omit pronouns is within the crucial tense of giving a command.

• Donnes-moi la balle ! = Give me the ball!
• Allons-y ! = Let’s go!

Key takeaways about French pronouns

French pronouns assist preserve you from sounding repetitive in conversations. Apply utilizing them in conversations with dwell tutoring classes from skilled French audio system with Rosetta Stone. 

• There are 15 several types of French pronouns.
• There are two fundamental classes of French pronouns: private and impersonal.
• You might even see some repetition between the precise pronouns inside every sort, however the operate is totally different. 
• French pronouns change nouns or noun phrases. 

Written by Micah McCauley

Micah McCauley is a present freelance contributor to Rosetta Stone with years of expertise educating French to non-native audio system. His profession spans the U.S., France, and China. He’s at present a pupil and affiliate teacher of French and Francophone Research. He enjoys composing music, touring, and studying Spanish in his free time.