french

Lesson 1.02 - To Be
D: Where are you from?
French Dialogue • Print version • audio (info •226 kb • help)
Where are you from? Tu es d’où?
Quentin Bonjour, Léon. Dis donc, tu es d’où?
Léon
Je suis de Paris, Quentin.
Quentin Alors, tu es français?
Léon
Oui, exactement.
Quentin Et Marie, elle est d’où?
Léon
Elle est de Marseille. Elle est française, aussi.
Quentin Merci, Léon. Au revoir.
G: Subject pronouns
French has six different types of pronouns: the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person singular and the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd
person plural.
French Grammar • Print version • audio (info •61 kb • help)
Subject Pronouns Les pronoms soumis
1st person
2nd person
3rd person
singular je I
plural nous we
singular tu you
plural vous you
singular il, elle, on he, she, one
plural
ils, elles
they (masculine)
they (feminine)
When referring to more than one person in the 2nd person, “vous” must be used. When referring to a single
person, “vous” or “tu” may be used depending on the situation; see notes in the introductory lessons.
The pronoun it does not exist in French. Il replaces all masculine nouns, even those that are not human. The
same is true with elle and feminine nouns.
In addition to the nuances between vous and tu, as discussed earlier, French pronouns carry meanings that do
not exist in English pronouns. The French third person "on" has several meanings, but most closely matches
the now archaic English "one". While in English, "One must be very careful in French grammar" sounds
old-fashioned, the French equivalent "On doit faire très attention à la grammaire française" is quite
acceptable. Also, while the third person plural "they" has no gender in English, the French equivalents "ils"
and "elles" do. However, when pronounced, they normally sound the same as "il" and "elle", so
distinguishing the difference requires understanding of the various conjugations of the verbs following the
pronoun. Also, if a group of people consists of both males and females, the male form is used, even with a
majority of females — however, this sensibly yields to overwhelming majority: given a group of only one
male to thousands of females, the female form would be used.