French Personal Pronouns - Overview

Overview

1. je, me, te, se, le, and la become j', m', t', s', l', and l' respectively before a vowel or mute h. See Elision (French).
2. The pronoun il and its forms refer to males (like English he), while the pronoun elle and its forms refer to females (like English she). However, as all French nouns (even inanimate and intangible objects) are either masculine or feminine, these pronouns can also refer to masculine and feminine nouns as well. In this case, both il and elle translate to the English pronoun it. (See Grammatical gender.)
3. In formal French, the pronoun on is often replaced by l'on after a vowel; in particular, formal French often replaces si on and qu'on with si l'on and que l'on, respectively. This does not affect the meaning, only the pronunciation.
4. In French, a group containing at least one male or one masculine noun is considered masculine, and takes the pronoun ils. Only exclusively female or feminine groups take elles.