French:Pronouns

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This page details pronouns in French.

Contents

Personal pronouns

Subject Direct object Indirect object Reflexive Stressed
1st-person singular je me me me moi
2nd-person singular (informal) tu te te te toi
2nd-person singular (formal) vous vous vous vous vous
3rd-person singular (masculine) il le lui se lui
3rd-person singular (feminine) elle la lui se lui
3rd-person singular (indefinite)1 on le lui se soi
1st-person plural nous nous nous nous nous
2nd-person plural vous vous vous vous vous
3rd-person plural (masculine) ils les leur se eux
3rd-person plural (feminine) elles les leur se elles

Impersonal pronouns

Impersonal pronouns do not actually represent a grammatical person. Only some of them change to agree with the represented noun's gender and plurality.

Adverbial pronouns

The pronouns y and en are widely used in both written and spoken French. Y refers to a previously mentioned place, or replaces the phrase "à noun" (where the noun is not a person).
Examples:

Est-ce que vous allez au cinéma ? Non, j'y vais la semaine prochaine.
Are you going to the movies? No, I'm going (there) next week.

Il était chez mon ami. Il y était.
He was at my friend's house. He was there.

Il va répondre à ma lettre. Il va y répondre.
He's going to respond to my letter. He's going to respond to it.

En replaces constructions containing a partitive article + noun, de + noun in expressions that require de, or d'un + noun.
Examples:

Avez-vous du papier ? Oui, j'en ai.
Do you have any paper? Yes, I have some.

Je n'ai pas besoin d'une orange. Je n'en ai pas besoin.
I don't need an orange. I don't need one.

Demonstrative pronouns

Singular Plural
Masculine celui ceux
Feminine celle celles

Demonstrative pronouns are simply the pronoun equivalent of demonstrative adjectives. Usually they translate to English as "this one", "that one", "these ones", and "those ones". There is a demonstrative pronoun corresponding to each combination of plurality and gender.

Demonstrative pronouns can not be by themselves in a sentence. They are implemented into French phrases in several ways:

  1. Followed by a relative pronoun.
    Examples:

    Celui qui sont le plus fort gagnera le concours.
    Whoever is the strongest will win the contest.

  2. Followed by a suffix.
    Examples:

    Qui a écrit la lettre ? Celui-ci ou celui-là ?
    Who wrote the letter? This one or that one?

Possessive pronouns

Masculine Feminine
Pronoun Singular Plural Singular Plural
je (1SG) le mien les miens la mienne les miennes
tu (2SG) le tien les tiens la tienne les tiennes
il/elle (3SG) le sien les siens la sienne les siennes
nous (1PL) le nôtre les nôtres la nôtre les nôtres
vous (2PL) le vôtre les vôtres la vôtre les vôtres
ils/elles (3PL) le leur les leurs la leur les leurs

French possessive pronouns replace constructions consisting of a possessive adjective and a noun. They are always written with their respective articles before them in order to lower ambiguity, especially in the 1st- and 2nd-person plural forms.
Examples:

C'est mon livre. C'est le mien.
It's my book. It's mine.

There is a possessive pronoun corresponding to each combination of number and gender (refer to the table on the left).

fr.png French pages
Introduction · Pronouns · Gender · Verbs
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