French Subject Pronouns
Questions This Article Answers
What's a subject pronoun?
What are the French subject pronouns?
What are subject pronouns in French?
What are the subject pronouns in French?
How do you use subject pronouns in French?
When can I use tu in French?
When can I use vous in French?
What's the difference between on and nous in French?
What's a Subject?
Let's start from the beginning. In order to understand what a subject pronoun is, you must first understand what a subject is. A subject is the person or object that is initiating or performing the action of the verb. For example:
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In the sentences above, Antoine is doing the action of knowing, mon chien (my dog) is doing the action of barking, and le gâteau (the cake) did the action of falling.
What's a Subject Pronoun?
A subject pronoun is a subject that has been turned into a pronoun, usually to avoid repeating the subject. If we didn't have pronouns, our language would sound so repetitive! For example: Do you know my mother? My mother was born in Poland, and my mother moved to France in the 1970s. Then, my mother met my father... Thanks to pronouns like she (subject pronoun) and her (object pronoun), we can get straight to the point!
Subject Pronouns in French
| French | English |
|---|---|
| je | I |
| tu | you |
| il | he |
| elle | she |
| on | we or one |
| nous | we |
| vous | you or you all |
| ils | they (all masculine or mixed group) |
| elles | they (all feminine) |
If you speak English, most of these subject pronouns are pretty straightforward. However, a few of them deserve a little explanation. Let's take a look at some of the different subject pronouns in French!
Tu (Informal You)
Tu (you) is the second-person singular subject pronoun in French. It is used to address one person informally. You should generally use it with people you know well and have a personal relationship with. You can use tu with:
- Your friends
- Your family
- Coworkers that you address informally
- Children in general (even if you don't know them)
If you are a minor, you can use tu with other young people your age that you don't know. That's fine. However, when you enter adulthood, you should stop using tu for people your age or older that you don't know.
Informal Elision of Tu
The subject pronoun tu can drop its -u in front of a vowel or an h muet, but it's not obligatory. Dropping the -u will only result in a change in formality; dropping the -u in tu is considered even more informal than just using tu!
Let's take a look at how tu and t' can be used!
Vous (Formal You)
Vous (you) is the second-person plural subject pronoun in French. It is used to address one person formally OR two or more people—either formally or informally. You should use vous when addressing one person if that person is:
- Your boss at work
- Your teacher at school
- Your in-laws (unless they have given you permission to use tu)
- Any stranger that you need to interact with (store employees, doctors, the other people in your yoga class, etc.)
We have specific words to talk about using tu and vous in French. The verb tutoyerrefers to the action of using tu, while the verb vouvoyerrefers to the action of using vous.
When You Don't Know What To Do
You may find yourself in situations where the formality level you should use is unclear. For example, you're going to your cousin's wedding and you're meeting the groom's father for the first time. Should you use tu or vous when addressing him?
Quick Tip: It's always safe to start by using vous. If the other person feels that it's too formal for them, they will tell you: Tu peux me tutoyer !(You can use tu with me!) or On peut se tutoyer !(We can use tu with each other!) There is usually not any harm done when starting with vous. However, if you start with tu when you shouldn't have, the person may feel offended.
Regional Variations
The explanations about when to use tu vs. vous in this article mostly apply to France. In Quebec, Canada, for example, they follow different standards. The subject pronoun tu is often used when addressing strangers.
Nous (We) vs. On (We)
The pronoun nous (we) is the first-person plural subject pronoun in French. It is usually the first (and sometimes only) subject pronoun that students of French are told means we.
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However, nous is on the formal side. Most French people use on rather than nous. The pronoun on (we) is one of the third-person singular subject pronouns in French. While it conjugates like a third-person singular pronoun, it can actually be used as first-person plural pronoun. In other words, when on means we, it is still conjugated the same way as il (he) and elle (she).
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Learn all about pronouns in French with these articles!
