By the end of this lesson you'll know all nine French subject pronouns (the words for I, you, he, she, it, we and they) and you'll be able to choose confidently between tu and vous.
What a subject pronoun does
A subject pronoun stands in for the person or thing doing the action. In "She lives in Paris", she is the subject pronoun. You've already used two French ones without noticing: je in je m'appelle, and tu in tu t'appelles comment ? from the introductions lesson.
| French | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| je (j') | zhuh | IBecomes j' before a vowel or a silent h. |
| tu | tew | you (one person, informal) |
| il | eel | he, it |
| elle | el | she, it |
| on | ohn | we (casual), people in general, one |
| nous | noo | we |
| vous | voo | you (formal, or more than one person) |
| ils | eel | they (men, or a mixed group)Usually sounds just like il. |
| elles | el | they (women only)Usually sounds just like elle. |
| tutoyer | tew-twah-YAY | to call someone tu |
| vouvoyer | voo-vwah-YAY | to call someone vous |
Je: I
Je is never written with a capital letter unless it starts a sentence. Before a vowel or a silent h, it shortens to j': j'habite (I live), j'aime (I like). This shortening is called elision, and French does it with several short words.
Tu or vous: you
English has one "you". French has two, and choosing between them is part of being polite.
Tu is for one person you know well: friends, family, children, classmates, and people your own age in relaxed settings.
Vous has two jobs:
- The polite "you" for one person: strangers, older people, shop staff, your doctor, and anyone in a professional setting.
- The plural "you" for more than one person, whoever they are. Talking to two close friends at once? That's vous.
This is why you learned both Et toi ? and Et vous ? in the last lesson.
Il and elle: he, she, and it
Il means "he" and elle means "she". But French has no separate word for "it". Every noun in French is either masculine or feminine (you'll learn how to tell in the lesson on gender and articles), and you use il for masculine things and elle for feminine ones. A table (la table, feminine) is elle. A book (le livre, masculine) is il.
Ils and elles: they
Ils is for a group of men, a group of masculine things, or any mixed group. Elles is only for a group that is entirely women or entirely feminine things. One man in a group of ten is enough to make it ils.
In most sentences ils sounds exactly like il, and elles like elle. You'll tell them apart from the verb and the context.
On: the everyday "we"
On originally means "one" or "people in general": On parle français ici is "French is spoken here". In everyday speech, though, French speakers use on far more often than nous to mean "we". Nous is still correct, and you'll see it in writing and formal speech, but on is what you'll hear most among friends.
One useful detail: on always takes the same verb form as il and elle, even when it means "we".
Tu t'appelles comment ?
What's your name? (to one friend or a child)
Vous vous appelez comment, monsieur ?
What's your name, sir? (polite)
Salut, vous deux !
Hi, you two! (vous for more than one person)
Léa et Chloé ? Elles sont à Lyon.
Léa and Chloé? They're in Lyon.
Léa et Hugo ? Ils sont à Lyon.
Léa and Hugo? They're in Lyon. (mixed group: ils)
On parle français ici.
We speak French here. / French is spoken here.
What's next
Pronouns come alive with verbs. In the lesson on être you'll use every one of them with the most important verb in French, être (to be). Later, the lesson on regular -er verbs pairs them with the largest family of French verbs. For more on when to switch from vous to tu, see the lesson on politeness and la bise.