French personal pronouns

French personal pronouns (analogous to English ''I'', ''you, he/she, we'', and ''they'') reflect the person and number of their referent, and in the case of the third person, its gender as well (much like the English distinction between ''him'' and ''her'', except that French lacks an inanimate third person pronoun ''it'' or a gender neutral ''they'' and thus draws this distinction among all third person nouns, singular and plural). They also reflect the role they play in their clause: subject, direct object, indirect object, or other.

Personal pronouns display a number of grammatical particularities and complications not found in their English counterparts: some of them can only be used in certain circumstances; some of them change form depending on surrounding words; and their placement is largely unrelated to the placement of the nouns they replace.

Overview

The second person

French has a T-V distinction in the second person singular. That is, it uses two different sets of pronouns: ''tu'' and ''vous'' and their various forms.

The usage of ''Tu'' and ''Vous'' depends on the kind of relationship (formal or informal) that exists between the speaker and the person with whom they are speaking and the age differences between these subjects. The pronoun ''tu'' is informal and singular, spoken to an individual who is equal or junior to the speaker. The pronoun ''vous'' is used in the singular (but with second-person plural verb forms) to speak to an individual who is senior to the speaker or socially "more important" than the speaker. ''Vous'' is also used in the plural for all groups of people, whether junior, equal or senior.

Subject pronouns

As noted above, the personal pronouns change form to reflect the role they play in their clause. The forms used for subjects are called the ''subject pronouns'', ''subjective pronouns'', or '' nominative pronouns''. They are as follows:

When the predicate is ''être'' ("to be") plus a noun phrase, the pronoun ''ce'' (''c'' in elision contexts) is normally used instead of the other third person subject pronouns. For example, « C'est un homme intelligent » ("He is a smart man"), « Ce sont mes parents » ("Those are my parents"). ''Ce'' is primarily used as a "neuter" pronoun to refer to events and situations: « J'ai vu Jean hier. C'était amusant. », "I saw John yesterday. It was fun."

Neologisms such as ''iel(le)'', ''ille'', ''ul'', ''ol'' and ''yul'' have emerged in recent years as gender-neutral alternatives to the masculine and feminine pronouns, but are not yet considered standard in French despite their use in some speech communities.

''On''

The subject pronoun '' on'' (from Old French '' m, homme'' "man", from Latin ''homo'' "human being") is equivalent to the English indefinite pronouns ''one'', ''you'', and ''they'' (as in, "One is pleased to see...", "You never know what will...", and "They speak French in..."). It takes third-person singular verb forms in the same way that ''il'' and ''elle'' do, and is used:

* In the same way as English "one", "you" and "they", where the subject is generalised or otherwise unclear or unimportant:
: ''« C'est en forgeant que lon devient forgeron. »'' "It is by blacksmithing that one becomes a blacksmith."
: ''« penser que lon a raison »'' "to think that you are right," i.e. "to think oneself right."
* As an extension of the above, it is often used to avoid the passive voice in French:
: ''« On me l'a donné. »'' " omeonegave it to me." In English, it would be more common to say, "It was given to me.", which would be rendered as ''« Ça / il / elle m'a été donné(e). »'' in French.
* To replace the subject pronoun ''nous'' in informal speech. In this case, ''on'' takes plural adjectives, even though it always takes a third-person singular verb. The corresponding reflexive object pronoun, ''se'', is also third-person, but first-person possessive pronouns must be used when ''on'' meaning ''nous'' is the antecedent. The associated disjunctive pronoun in this context is ''nous''.
: ''« On est sur le point de partir. »'' "We are about to go."
: ''« Nous, on est américains, et vous, vous êtes français. »'' "Us, we are American, and you, you are French."
: ''« On se débarrasse de nos bagages ? »'' "Shall we get rid of our luggage?"

It is ''never'' used for the number ''one'', or as in ''one of them''. As in English, numbers can be used as pronouns, and this is also true of the French word ''un(e)'':
: ''« Deux sont entrés et un est ressorti »'' "Two went in and one came back out."

''On'' has limited pronoun forms: it has only a reflexive form, ''se'', and a disjunctive form ''soi'' (which is also only used when the sense is reflexive). The pronoun ''quelqu'un'' ("someone") can sometimes be used to fill the roles of ''on'':
: ''« Quelqu'un m'a dit... »'' "Someone told me..."

Direct-object pronouns

Like the English ''him'', ''her'', ''it'', and ''them'', the pronouns ''le'', ''la'', and ''les'' are only used with ''definite'' direct objects. For ''indefinite'' ones (e.g., "some juice"), ''en'' is used; see " The pronoun ''en''" below.

''Le'', ''la'', and ''les'' are not used when the direct object refers to the same entity as the subject; see the section on the reflexive pronouns, below.

Examples:
* (I have a book.) I am giving ''it'' to the teacher. « Je ''le'' donne au prof. »
* (Danielle is my sister.) Have you seen ''her''? « Est-ce que tu ''l'''as vue ? »

Indirect-object pronouns

In French, an indirect object is an object of a verb that is introduced using a preposition (especially the preposition ''à''). For example, in the sentence « J'ai parlé à Jean » ("I spoke to Jean"), ''Jean'' is the indirect object in the French sentence.

Indirect-object pronouns (or '' dative pronouns'') generally only replace indirect objects with the preposition ''à''. When an indirect object pronoun is used, it replaces the entire prepositional phrase; for example, « Je lui ai donné un livre » ("I gave him a book").

Broadly speaking, ''lui'' and ''leur'' are used to refer to people, and ''y'' (see "The pronoun ''y''" below) is used to refer to things. However, ''lui'' and ''leur'' will sometimes also be used in referring to things.

''Lui'', ''leur'', and ''y'' are replaced with ''se'' (''s'' before a vowel) when the indirect object refers to the same entity as the subject; see the section on the reflexive pronouns below.

As mentioned above, the indirect object pronouns are not always used to replace indirect objects:
* They are not used when the preposition is ''de'' rather than ''à''; but see the section on the pronoun ''en'', below.
* Some verbs are incompatible with indirect object pronouns, such as ''penser'' ("to think about") and all reflexive verbs. For example, one says, « Je me fie à lui » ("I put my trust in him"), ''not'' « * Je me lui fie ».

Reflexive pronouns

In French, as in English, reflexive pronouns are used in place of direct- and indirect-object pronouns that refer to the same entity or entities as the subject. A verb with a reflexive pronoun is called a ''reflexive verb'', and has many grammatical particularities aside from the choice of pronoun; see French verbs.

There are four kinds of reflexive verbs:
# Verbs that are inherently reflexive. For example, the verb ''se souvenir'' ("to remember") has no non-reflexive counterpart; the verb ''souvenir'' has no meaning on its own.
# Verbs whose direct or indirect objects refer to the same entities as their subjects. For example, « Je m'achèterai cela » ("I shall buy myself that") is just a special case of « Je lui achèterai cela » ("I shall buy him that") that happens to be reflexive.
# Verbs indicating reciprocal actions. For example, « Ils se parlent » means "They are talking to each other." In cases of possible ambiguity, the reciprocal interpretation can be reinforced by adding « Ils se parlent ''l'un à l'autre'' ».
# Verbs indicating a passive action. For example, one might say, « La porte s'ouvre », which literally means, "The door is opening itself," but really means, "The door is opening."
All four kinds use the reflexive pronouns, and exhibit the grammatical particularities of reflexive verbs.

Disjunctive pronouns

'' Disjunctive pronouns'' are the strong forms of French pronouns, the forms used in isolation and in emphatic positions (compare the use of ''me'' in the English sentence "Me, I believe you, but I am not sure anyone else will"; for more, see Intensive pronoun).

In French, disjunctive pronouns are used in the following circumstances:
* as the objects of prepositions: « Je le fais pour toi », "I am doing it for you."
* in dislocated positions: « Toi, je t'ai déjà vu, moi. », "You, I have seen you before, I have."
* in cleft sentences: « C'est toi qui as tort », "It is you who are wrong." ''lit.'' "It is you who have error/wrong."
* in compound noun phrases: « Lui et moi sommes américains », "He and I are American" (though one might equally say, « Lui et moi, nous sommes américains / on est américains »).
* as emphatic subjects (third person only): « ''Lui'' sait le faire », "''He'' knows how to do it" (though one might equally say, « Lui, il sait le faire »).

The reflexive disjunctive form ''soi'' can be used as the object of a preposition, if it refers to the same entity as the subject. For example, « Un voyageur sait se sentir chez soi n'importe où », "A traveller knows how to feel at home anywhere." Note that this does ''not'' make the verb reflexive.

The pronoun ''y''

The pronoun ''y'' has two distinct uses:
* It is the indirect-object pronoun used with things introduced by the preposition ''à''. For more on this use, see above.
* It is used to replace a spatial prepositional phrase. In this sense, it might be translated as ''there''. For example:
*: « Je vais ''à Paris''. » → « Jy vais. » ("I am going ''to Paris''." → "I am going there.")
*: « Est-ce que tu travailles ''dans ce bureau'' ? — Non, je ny travaille plus. » ("Do you work ''in that office''? — No, I do not work there anymore.")
* It is used idiomatically with certain verbs, without replacing anything:
*: « Il doit y avoir une erreur. » ("There must be a mistake.")
*: « Je commence à y voir un peu plus clair. » ("I am starting to see things more clearly.")

The pronoun ''en''

The pronoun ''en'' has the following uses:
*It is the indirect-object pronoun used with things (including infinitives) introduced by the preposition ''de''. It is also sometimes used in the same way with people (however, it is more common to use disjunctive pronouns rather than using ''en'' in the case of people).:
*:« Je parle ''du problème''. » → « Jen parle. » ("I am talking ''about the problem''." → "I am talking about it.")
*:« Je parle ''de Jean''. » → « Jen parle. » ''or'' « Je parle ''de lui''. » ("I am talking ''about Jean''." → "I am talking about him.")
*It is used to replace a spatial prepositional phrase introduced by ''de'' ("from"). In this sense, it might be translated as ''from there'':
*:« Je viens ''de France''. » → « Jen viens. » ("I come ''from France''." → "I come ''from there''.")
*It is the direct-object pronoun used to replace indefinite direct objects; that is, direct objects that are:
**introduced by the partitive article (including the plural indefinite article)
**:« Jai bu ''du jus de pomme''. » → « Jen ai bu. » ("I drank ''some apple juice''." → "I drank ''some''.")
**introduced by ''de'' when the verb is negated
**:« Je n'ai pas vu ''de vaches''. » → Je n'en ai pas vu. ("I did not see'' any cows''." → "I did not see ''any''.")
**introduced by a numeral (including the singular indefinite article) or a plural expression (''d'autres'', ''certains'', ''quelques'')
**:« J'ai mangé ''une pomme''. » → « Jen ai mangé ''une''. » ("I ate ''an apple''." → "I ate ''one''.")
**:« J'ai mangé ''quelques pommes''. » → Jen ai mangé ''quelques-unes''. ("I ate ''a number of apples''." → "I ate ''a number of them''.")
**introduced by another expression of quantity (usually an adverb + ''de'')
**:« J'ai vendu ''beaucoup de jus de pomme''. » → « Jen ai vendu ''beaucoup''. » ("I sold ''a lot of apple juice''." → "I sold ''a lot''.")
**:« J'ai acheté ''trois kilogrammes de pommes''. » → « Jen ai acheté ''trois kilogrammes''. » ("I bought ''three kilograms of apples''." → "I bought ''three kilograms''.")
*It is used idiomatically with certain verbs, without replacing anything:
*:« J'en veux à Jean. » ("I am mad at Jean.")
*:« Je vais en finir avec lui. » ("I am going to finish things off with him.")

Clitic order

French personal pronouns, aside from their disjunctive forms, are all clitics, and the order of pronominal clitics as well as the negative clitic ''ne'' is strictly determined as follows. Only one clitic can be used for each slot. Where one wishes to express an idea that would involve slots that cannot coexist or multiple pronouns from the same slot, the indirect object is expressed as the object of ''à'' or ''pour'' (thus ''Je me donne à toi'' – "I give myself to you"). The use of more than two clitics beyond the subject and, where necessary, ''ne'' is uncommon; constructions such as ''Je lui y en ai donné'' may be perceived as unacceptable, and other constructions must then be used to express the same ideas.

;Proclitic order: Slots 3 and 5 cannot coexist.

;Enclitic order: Used only for positive imperatives. Slots 2 and 3 cannot coexist.

# The clitics ''-moi'' and ''-toi'' become ''-m''' and ''-t''' respectively when followed by either ''-en'' or ''-y''. In colloquial French, however, it is possible to keep ''-moi'' and ''-toi'' intact and change ''-en'' and ''-y'' to ''-z-en'' and ''-z-y'' respectively, or to put slot 5 before slot 3, or less commonly, before slot 1 or 2.
#:ex. The imperative sentences corresponding to « ''Tu m'en donnes'' »:
#:« Donne-m'en. » (formal)
#:« Donne-moi-z-en. » (informal)
#:« Donnes-en-moi. » (informal)

See also

* French pronouns

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:French Personal Pronouns
Personal pronouns
Pronouns by language