FRENCH NOTE 72 SUBJECT PRONOUNS

FRENCH NOTE 72. SUBJECT PRONOUNS
A learner requested me to prepare notes on PRONOMS. They are known as pronouns in
English. For acquiring a thorough mastery over French , you should learn how to use the
pronouns correctly . I require several notes to explain them to a novice.
Why pronouns ? Are not nouns good enough to give us headache ?
Read the following .
Peter is 14. Peter is tall. Peter plays football . Peter's father is a doctor. Peter's mother is an
advocate. Peter has two sisters. Peter's elder sister is 19. Peter's younger sister is 9.
Stop! Enough of this blessed Peter !
It is you telling me to stop getting tired of the repetition of the name " PETER" like a
mantra.
When the noun PETER is repeated 8 times in these two lines , how boring it is !
So , repetition of a noun is to be avoided. The device invented for that is " pronoun".
A PRONOUN is put in the place of a noun. There are infinite number of nouns.
But pronouns are in limited number. So learning them is fairly easy. Use pronouns and
rewrite the above sentences.
Peter is 14. He is tall. He plays football . His father is a doctor . His mother is an advocate.
He has two sisters. His elder sister is 19. His younger sister is 9.
In the above version , we used the noun PETER only once. Wherever PETER is mentioned
we substituted it with " he " and for PETER' S with his. Of course " he" is a pronoun
and " his" is a possessive adjective . With the use of these, our sentences have become
more elegant.

Now you are ready to learn French pronouns. In this note, I deal with the easiest of them
which all of you know. They are subject pronouns. These pronouns come in the place
of nouns in a sentence as subjects. Generally they come at the beginning of a sentence.
They are

Je - I First person singular

Tu - you ( singular, informal) second person singular

Il - he - third person singular masculine

Elle - she - third person singular feminine

Nous - we - First person plural

Vous - you ( formal, plural). - second person plural / formal

Ils - they ( masculine ) - third person masculine plural

Elles - they ( feminine ) - third person feminine plural

See how they are used.
" Je " is used in all statements / questions involving first person singular as SUBJECT.
Je mange du pain.
I eat bread.
Je suis indien.
I am an Indian.
Je suis avocat.
I am an advocate.
" tu" is used with very close people . Family members / intimate friends.
Tu es fou.
You are mad.
Tu as quel âge ?
How old are you ?
Jean est grand. Il fait du foot.
John is tall. He plays football
Alice habite Bangalore. Elle est infirmière .
Alice lives in Bangalore . She is a nurse.
Nous allons faire du tennis.
We are going to play tennis.
Vous êtes venus ici quand ?
You ( Plural) came here. when ?
Ils sont étudiants.
They are students.
They are actresses.
Elles sont actrices.
Hope you understood the use of subject pronouns . In the next note , we will learn object
pronouns. Generally students find them more confusing . But in my view, they are also
simple. By doing plenty of exercises and with writing practice you can perfect your
knowledge of all types of pronouns.
Rest in subsequent notes.
Happy learning !
Sayee Jayaraman
06/04/2015
Chennai