Personal pronouns 57Form
The subject pronouns (I, you, he, she, it, etc.) are:
Singular: je, tu, il, elle, on
Plural: nous, vous, ils, elles
Although ontakes a singular verb form, it is frequently plural in reference. See usage b above and
Discover more about personal pronouns, 1b,below.
NoteThe third-person singular ‘neutral’ pronouns ce, cela, çaare dealt with separately in
Chapter 14.
Except in an inverted question, where it follows the verb, the subject pronoun normally
appears immediately before the verb. The only words which may intervene between it and
the verb are:
i the unstressed object pronouns, e.g. je vous l’affirme(line 11) (see 2 below)
ii the negative particle ne, e.g. vous ne le pensez(lines 13–14).2 UNSTRESSED OBJECT PRONOUNSUsage
a It is important that you are able to distinguish between directand indirect objects, in both
English and in French. It is important also that you know the structure which is used with a
particular French verb. This will not necessarily be the same as in English. For example, in
English you teach someone (direct object) to do something, but in French the construction is
apprendre à quelqu’un à faire quelque chose. The use of à +noun indicates that the noun is the
indirect object, and therefore the appropriate pronoun will be an indirect object pronoun. So,
in the text we find je leurai appris à se servir(lines 3–4).
b The pronoun le, as well as referring to masculine nouns, may also have a ‘neutral’ function,
referring to general ideas or whole phrases, e.g. je vous l’affirme, je peux le prouver(lines
11–12), where l’and leboth refer to the whole idea that your memory is ten times more
powerful than you think. Another example of ‘neutral’ leis faites-le(line 84), where lerefers to
the action of sending in the coupon. Sometimes, French uses ‘neutral’ lewhere no equivalent
pronoun ‘it/this’ would be required in English, e.g. que vous ne le pensez(lines 13–14). This is
often found, as here (along with ne), in the second clause of a comparison, typically in formal
written French (see Chapter 18).
c The pronoun en(line 81) should be particularly noted, since it has no exact equivalent in
English. It is used to stand in the place of a phrase which begins with de. Here, en savoir plusis
the equivalent of savoir plus de détails. Enis very frequently used in French when there would
be no equivalent in English, e.g. Combien de pages avez-vous lu? J’en ai lu une vingtaine.
d For the pronoun ywhich does not occur in the text, see Discover more about personal
pronouns, 2e,below.