Subject pronouns in French

• Subjectpronouns are words that replace nouns, for example 'I', 'you', 'she', 'we' and 'they' are used as the subject of a sentence.

• In French, there are nine subject pronouns.

• There are two ways of saying ‘you’ in French.

• The French subject pronoun on has three different meanings.

• Higher Tier - personne ne and rien ne are negative subject pronouns.

Subject pronouns take the place of a noun as the subject of a sentence – they tell us who or what is doing the action of the verb.

In English, the subject pronouns are I, you, he, she, it, we and they.

These are the nine French subject pronouns:

• For a group that is made up of just males or masculine nouns, or for a group of people or objects that combines both male/masculine and female/feminine, use ils.

For example:

Les enfants vont à la piscine. Ils vont à la piscine. - The children go to the pool. They go to the pool.

L’enfant (child) is masculine in French, so you replace the noun enfants (children) with the subject pronoun ils.

• For a group that is made up of just females or feminine nouns, use elles.

For example:

Les filles vont au cinéma. Elles vont au cinéma. – The girls are going to the cinema. They are going to the cinema.

The word fille (girl) is feminine in French, so you replace the noun filles (girls) with the subject pronoun elles.

Note that there are two different words for ‘you’ in French: tu and vous.

• Tu is for friends and family members, but only when there is one of them.

For example:

Tu aimes le sport ? - Do you like sport?

This question is for one person in an informal situation, such as a friend or sibling.

• Vous is for more formal situations or for a group of people.

For example:

Vous aimez le sport ? - Do you like sport?

This question could be for a group of friends or family members, or it could be used in a formal situation.

Vous could be just one person such as a teacher, boss or shop assistant, or it could mean a group of people.

On can either mean ‘one’ or ‘you’ in a general sense, or ‘we’ in a more informal setting, such as chatting to friends.

For example:

On peut aller au musée. – One/You can go to the museum.

On va au parc. – We’re going to the park.

Practise what you’ve learned about subject pronouns with this quiz.

The negative subject pronouns are personne ne + verb (nobody) and rien ne + verb (nothing).

To use ‘nobody’ as the subject of a sentence, use personne ne followed by the third person singular (il/elle/on) form of the verb.

For example:

Personne ne veut aller au café. – Nobody wants to go to the café.

To say ‘nothing’ as the subject of a sentence, use rien ne followed by the third person singular (il/elle/on) form of the verb.

For example:

Rien ne se passe. – Nothing is happening.

Practise what you’ve learned about subject pronouns with this quiz for Higher Tier.

Did you know?

The most commonly used gender-neutral pronouns in French are iel (they, singular) and iels (they, plural).

For example:

Iel aime aller au parc. – They (singular) like going to the park.

Iels jouent au basket. – They (plural) are playing basketball.

Now you’ve learned about subject pronouns, why not explore comparative and superlative adverbs?