French Pronouns: Formal and Informal Usage
Understanding French Verb Forms
As everyone is probably aware of, pronouns are used for replacing nouns in order to avoid redundancy or to simply make sentences shorter and more direct to the point. French pronouns function in the same way. However, unlike English pronouns, French pronouns usually take on different forms in order to fit into situations. Specifically, French pronouns are divided into two different categories
Personal Pronouns
There are some primary types of personal pronouns used in the French language. These are:
1. Je/ ʒ e/ - refers to the 1st-person singular and is used if the pronoun is the subject in the sentence. It is then changed to me /m ə/ when the pronoun is the direct or indirect object in the sentence. In English, this is equivalent to the pronoun 'I' or 'me'.
2. Tu /ty/ - refers to the subject pronoun that is in the 2nd-person singular. This is then changed to te /t ə / when the pronoun is the direct or indirect object in the sentence. This is the equivalent of the English pronoun 'you'.
3. Il /i/- refers to the masculine pronoun in the 3rd-person singular. This is changed to le when the pronoun is the direct object and then to lui /lµi/ when it is the indirect object in a sentence. This pronoun is the rough equivalent of the English pronoun 'he' or 'him'.
4. Elle /εl/ - refers to the feminine pronoun in the 3rd-person singular. This is then changed to la /la/ if the pronoun is the direct object, and lui if it is the indirect objet in a sentence. This is the French equivalent to 'she' or 'her'.
As everyone is probably aware of, pronouns are used for replacing nouns in order to avoid redundancy or to simply make sentences shorter and more direct to the point. French pronouns function in the same way. However, unlike English pronouns, French pronouns usually take on different forms in order to fit into situations. Specifically, French pronouns are divided into two different categories
Personal Pronouns
There are some primary types of personal pronouns used in the French language. These are:
1. Je/ ʒ e/ - refers to the 1st-person singular and is used if the pronoun is the subject in the sentence. It is then changed to me /m ə/ when the pronoun is the direct or indirect object in the sentence. In English, this is equivalent to the pronoun 'I' or 'me'.
2. Tu /ty/ - refers to the subject pronoun that is in the 2nd-person singular. This is then changed to te /t ə / when the pronoun is the direct or indirect object in the sentence. This is the equivalent of the English pronoun 'you'.
3. Il /i/- refers to the masculine pronoun in the 3rd-person singular. This is changed to le when the pronoun is the direct object and then to lui /lµi/ when it is the indirect object in a sentence. This pronoun is the rough equivalent of the English pronoun 'he' or 'him'.
4. Elle /εl/ - refers to the feminine pronoun in the 3rd-person singular. This is then changed to la /la/ if the pronoun is the direct object, and lui if it is the indirect objet in a sentence. This is the French equivalent to 'she' or 'her'.