PERSONNAL PRONOUNS & POLITENESS LEVEL - PART 1 / LES PRONOMS PERSONNELS & LES NIVEAUX DE POLITESSE - PARTIE 1

Welcome eveyone! :) 

On today's lesson, let's take a look at the French pronouns and the politeness levels in French.

French pronouns:

Je 

Tu 

Il 

Elle 

Nous 

Vous 

Ils 

Elles

We called them personnal pronouns or in French, "Pronoms personnels". It's different from the "Possessives pronouns", but it will be explained in another lesson so don't worry about it for now. 

Let's break them down: 

Je = I 

Tu = You (polite/informal form)

Il = He

Elle = She

Nous = We 

Vous = You (polite/formal form)

Ils = They (masculine form)

Elles = They (feminine form)

Let's see how we call them in the grammatical term by classified them into two categories: Plural and Singular.

Singular:

Je = First person of the singular / Première personne du singulier

Tu = Second person of the singular / Deuxième personne du singulier

Il and Elle = Third person of the singular / Troisième personne du singulier 

Plural:

Nous = First person of the plural / Première personne du pluriel

Vous = Second person of the plural / Deuxième personne du pluriel

Ils and Elles = Third person of the plural / Troisième personne du pluriel

Now, let's see how to use them to properly address to someone. In French, you have the informal way of speaking, and the formal way. This is not very complicated. 

● When you speak to your friends, family members, parents, people younger than you (kids), or people of the same age as you, you use the informal way of speaking. It's still polite but you lower the level and you break the barriers between the person you are talking to, and you, and you make the conversation more casual. You put yourself at the same level of the person you are adressing to. 

● When you speak to your teachers, doctor, neighbor (usually someone older than you), or when you go in some shops and you don't know the persons, your co-workers that are older or that you don't know very well, your boss, etc, always use formal way. Always. 

I have often heard foreigners asking for they way on the street and using informal way to adress a perfect stranger. It's not unpolite because we guess the person is not French and doesn't necessarily know all the rules, but it's surprising to hear a foreigner that you have never seen before in your life, asking you an information using the informal way, speaking to you like you have been acquaintances for years. So, in order to avoid difficulties if you adress someone who is not really in a good mood, it's better to know the basics.

Now, let's define what is informal and formal way, how to use them, and how to remember them!

Polite/Informal/Casual 

for friends, people of the same age, people older but that you have known for years and with whom you are comfortable enough, kids, family members, parents

Tu = You 

Yes, that's the only way possible to be informal/casual and close to someone in French. Surprising, huh?

When you speak to someone using "Tu"("You"), remember it's called informal or, in French, "tutoiement". This is basically the only way to be informal because with the second person of the singular (Tu), you always adress someone, and with the other pronouns, you just describe something, someone, or talk about you (with "Je"/"I")

Polite/Formal

for teachers, doctors, neighbors, people older than you, strangers, boss, co-workers (if they are older or if you see them often in the office but don't know them personnaly), or when you go in some shops and you don't know anybody in there, of course...

Vous = "You" 

Yes, here again, one way to differentiate informal and formal. If you hear "Vous", basically the "You" formal, you can guess the person is being polite to you and is respecting you because they don't know you yet, so they address you in the formal way. Plus, when you talk to someone that way, it means you lower yourself a bit too, in order to show your respect to them and the fact that you will never cross any social line toward them. In French, it's called "vouvoiement" or in English, "informal". 

Let's see some examples with some basics sentences below!

1) Tu es en retard, dépêches-toi ! / You are late, hurry! (informal, tutoiement)

2) Depuis combien de temps habitez-vous ici ? For how long have you lived here? (formal, vouvoiement)

3) Maman, as-tu vu mon manteau ? / Mom, have you seen my coat? (informal, tutoiement)

4) Laissez-moi vous aider à ouvrir la porte, Madame / Let me help you opening the door, Madam (formal, vouvoiement)

5) Cher cousin, je suis tellement heureuse que tu sois venu ! Dear cousin, I am so happy that you came! (informal, tutoiement)

6) Grand-père, as-tu dis à Papa de laver la voiture ? Grandpa, did you tell Daddy to wash the car? (informal, tutoiement)

7) Grand-mère, as-tu vu mon frère, hier ? Grandma, have you seen my brother, yesterday? (informal, tutoiement)

As you can see, we use them in a very distinct manner to address people we know for a long time, like family, and people who are complete strangers.

Earlier, I was talking about the way we use the other pronouns to describe something or someone. Let's see them closer now:

Je, Il, Elle = I, He, She ► Singular pronouns, speaking about one person at a time

Nous, Ils, Elles = We/Us, You, They ► Plural pronouns, speaking about several persons at a time

"Je" is used to talk about yourself. 

"Il" is used to talk about a masculine person, usually when you speak about this person. If the person is right in front of you, you will never speak to him by calling him "Il".

"Elle" is the same as "Il" in term of definition, except it's a feminine pronoun, reserved to speak about a girl.

All of them here are singular. Let's the the plural now:

"Nous" is used to talk about "We/Us". It includes yourself and an other person.

"Ils" is usually used to talk about several people. It's the plural form of the masculine way, but it is usually used to talk about several persons in a mixed concept. So you can use it to speak about girls AND boys. Like a group of friends.

"Elles" is the plural version of the feminine way, and it is used to talk exclusively about several girls. That's why it's pretty different from "Ils" because "Ils" is more commonly used.

Keep one thing in mind: in French, when you have a doubt in the way you should write something or say something, like how to use "Ils" for example, remember that in French, the masculine way ALWAYS win and lead the grammar. So sometimes if you have the possibility to talk about something but the grammatical rule permit you to use both masculine and feminine to talk about it, and if as a foreigner you have some doubts, choose the masculine. It will be more than correct in term of neutrality. 

Let's see some examples through some sentences:

1) Cette fille est jolie = Elle est jolie / This girl is pretty = She is pretty ("cette fille" is replaced by "elle". As you can see, "elle" is used to describe a feminine person).

2) Ce garcon est vraiment intelligent ! = Il est vraiment intelligent ! / This boy is very smart! = He is very smart! (same here "ce garçon" can be replaced and described with "il")

3) Lui et moi sommes très heureux = Nous sommes très heureux / Him and I are very happy = We are very happy 

4) Mon frère, sa petite-amie et leurs amis sont partis en vacances en Espagne pour deux mois = Ils sont partis en vacances en Espagne pour deux mois / My brother, his girlfriend and their friends went in Spain for the holidays for two months = They went on holidays in Spain for two months 

5) Ces filles sont très talentueuses = Elles sont très talentueuses / Those girls are very talented = They are very talented

6) Je suis très en colère contre toi / I am very angry against you.

Now, note something important: when you use the pronouns to describe something, a situation, a person, something that someone told you, etc, you need to get the right context. For example, if you are talking about your brother to your friend, and you say "He went somewhere" = "Il est allé quelque part", the person you are talking to (your friend) won't understand whom you are talking about if you haven't mentioned your brother previously.

Ex)

- Mon frère est parti en Espagne / My brother went in Spain
- Il est chanceux ! / He is lucky !

Here, you mentionned the subject of your sentence, your brother. So when your friend replies to you, she will say "Il", because you already know you are talking about your brother and the fact that it's a boy (masculine way). But if you suddenly say this to your friend:

- Il est parti en Espagne ! / He went in Spain!
- Qui ? / Who ?

That's what your friend can reply to you because she doesn't know who you are talking about! So be careful when you use pronouns to talk about someone who isn't here, because if you don't precise previously who you are talking about, the person probably won't understand, and will ask you whom you are referring to. 



That's all for the part 1 of personnal pronouns! I hope this lesson was helpful for you. If you have any question, do not hesitate to post a comment below! :)

In the next lesson, we will see the part 2 of the personnal pronouns and how to use them in a different manner. Stay tuned!