Learn about subject pronouns – les pronoms personnels sujets in French

Subject pronouns are important in the French language. They help you identify who is doing the action in a sentence. They replace nouns to make your speech or writing much clearer. In French, we have several subject pronouns: je, tu, il, elle, iel, on, nous, vous, ils, elles and iels.

Each pronoun has a specific role. For example:

• je means I and is used when talking about ourselves
• Tu means you and is used when speaking to someone informally (when you talk to one of your friend or family member)
• Il and elle mean he and she
• Iel is the gender neutral pronoun and is used to refer to a person of any gender. It is equivalent to the singular they
• On can mean one or we
• Nous means we
• Vous means you in a formal context (someone you don’t know for instance) or when addressing multiple people
• Ils and elles mean they. Ils for a group of males and females or group of males and elles for a group of females
• Iels is the gender neutral pronoun and is used to refer to people of any gender. It is equivalent to the plural they

In French, the subject pronoun usually comes before the verb in a sentence. For instance, in the sentence ‘Je mange‘ (I eat), ‘je‘ is the subject pronoun that tells you who is eating, which is you! Make sure you understand how to use these pronouns correctly, since they are used constantly.

Listen to all French subject pronouns by clicking on the button “Écoute” and learn how to write them all and remember their pronunciation.