Understanding Pronouns in French

Basic Sentence Structure: Subject-Verb-Object

In French, the main way to build a sentence is by using the pattern Subject-Verb-Object (SVO).

For example:
“Je mange une pomme.”
(This means “I eat an apple.”)

What are Pronouns?

Pronouns are special words we use to replace nouns. This helps us avoid saying the same thing over and over.

Here are some common French pronouns:

• je (I)
• tu (you, informal, when talking to one person)
• il/elle/on (he/she/one)
• nous (we)
• vous (you, formal or when talking to more than one person)
• ils/elles (they)

How Pronouns Replace Nouns

Using a pronoun instead of a noun is easy. Here’s how you do it:

1. Find the noun:
   “Marie joue au tennis.”
   (This means “Marie plays tennis.”)

2. Replace it with a pronoun:
   “Elle joue au tennis.”
   (Now it means “She plays tennis.”)

Examples

Let’s see some more examples:

• Noun:
  "Le chat mange la nourriture."
  (This means “The cat eats the food.”)

• Pronoun:
  "Il mange la nourriture."
  (Now it means “It eats the food.”)

• Noun:
  "Les élèves écoutent le professeur."
  (This means “The students listen to the teacher.”)

• Pronoun:
  "Ils écoutent le professeur."
  (Now it means “They listen to the teacher.”)

Practice

Now it’s your turn! Try to replace the nouns with pronouns in these sentences:

1. "Paul et Marie regardent le film."
2. "La voiture est rouge."

Using pronouns makes your sentences flow better and helps you avoid saying the same word too many times!