Learn French Grammar: Subject Pronouns

Grammar

What is a subject pronoun?

A subject pronoun replaces the noun that performs the action of a verb. English uses I, you, he, she, it, we, you, they. French uses nine, one more than English, because French distinguishes between formal and informal you.

Every declarative French sentence needs a subject pronoun. Unlike English, it cannot be dropped: where English allows speaks French in casual registers, French requires Je parle français.

French Subject Pronouns

French	English	Number	Register
je (or j' before a vowel)	I	singular	—
tu	you	singular	informal
il	he / it	singular	—
elle	she / it	singular	—
on	one / we (spoken)	singular	neutral / casual
nous	we	plural	formal / written
vous	you (formal) / you all	plural	formal / plural
ils	they	plural	masculine or mixed
elles	they	plural	feminine only

Tu or vous?

The choice between tu and vous is a social decision, not a grammatical one.

tu — friends, family, children, classmates, and close colleagues of the same age.
vous — strangers, superiors, elders, service staff, and anyone just met.

When in doubt, use vous. Native speakers will invite a switch: On peut se tutoyer ? (Can we use tu?).

Mixing the two with the same person is considered rude. Pick one register and stay consistent.

On: the everyday we

In spoken French, on has almost completely replaced nous as the everyday word for we.

Nous — formal, written, or used for emphasis in speeches, essays, and formal letters.
on — informal speech, texting, and everyday conversation, paired with third-person singular verb forms: on mange, not on mangeons.

Example: Nous allons au cinéma (formal) becomes On va au cinéma (natural, everyday). Both are correct, and on is what gets heard most often.

Ils or elles?

Ils and elles both translate to they, but the choice depends on the group.

ils — a group of men, or a mixed group, since any male makes it ils.
elles — a group of exclusively women.

This rule is stricter than English. One man among ten women still makes the correct pronoun ils.

Examples

Je suis étudiant en médecine.

Je is first-person singular. Note that je becomes j' before a vowel: j'ai, j'habite.

Tu parles très bien français.

Tu with a verb ending in -es. The -es is silent, so tu parles sounds like tu parle.

Il habite à Paris avec sa famille.

Il can refer to a male person or a masculine noun: le livre, il est intéressant.

Elle a vingt ans et elle est étudiante.

Elle for feminine nouns and female people. Age uses avoir, not être: elle a vingt ans.

Nous allons au cinéma ce soir.

Nous is formal; everyday speech usually prefers on va au cinéma.

Vous êtes professeur, n'est-ce pas ?

Subject Pronouns (Les pronoms sujets)

What you’ll learn

Grammar

What is a subject pronoun?

French Subject Pronouns

Tu or vous?

On: the everyday we

Ils or elles?

Watch out for these

Examples

Exercises

What you’ll learn

Grammar

What is a subject pronoun?

French Subject Pronouns

Tu or vous?

On: the everyday we

Ils or elles?

Examples

Exercises

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