Subject Pronouns
- Subject pronouns: je, tu, il, elle, on, nous, vous, ils, elles.
As noted above, the personal pronouns change form to reflect the role they play in their clause. The forms used for subjects are called the subject pronouns, subjective pronouns, or nominative pronouns. They are as follows:
| singular | plural | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| first person | je | nous | |
| second person | informal | tu | vous |
| formal | vous | ||
| third person | masculine | il | ils |
| feminine | elle | elles | |
When the predicate is être ("to be") plus a noun phrase, the pronoun ce (c' in elision contexts) is normally used instead of the other third person subject pronouns. For example, « C'est un homme intelligent » ("He is a smart man"), « Ce sont mes parents » ("Those are my parents"). Ce is primarily used as a "neuter" pronoun to refer to events and situations: « J'ai vu Jean hier. C'était amusant. », "I saw John yesterday. It was fun."
Read more about this topic: French Personal Pronouns
Famous quotes containing the words subject and/or pronouns:
“The subject is said to have the property of making dull men eloquent.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“In the meantime no sense in bickering about pronouns and other parts of blather.”
—Samuel Beckett (1906–1989)