{"id":20123,"date":"2014-02-25T12:09:28","date_gmt":"2014-02-25T11:09:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/?p=20123"},"modified":"2014-03-09T03:12:58","modified_gmt":"2014-03-09T02:12:58","slug":"french-indefinite-subject-pronoun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/french-indefinite-subject-pronoun\/","title":{"rendered":"French Indefinite Subject Pronoun"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s time to turn French Grammar “ON” again here on the Transparent French Blog!<\/strong><\/p>\n

And what a coincidence it is, because today you’ll be given a few precious pointers as to how to use the indefinite French\u00a0pronoun<\/a>\u00a0“On<\/em>“, which, as we know very well, can often cause some serious headache to the\u00a0d\u00e9butants<\/em>\u00a0learners of the French language.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The first English word that should come right away to your mind about the French “on<\/em><\/strong>” is “one<\/strong>“, as in the expression “on\u00a0ne sait jamais<\/strong><\/em>” (“One never knows.”)<\/p>\n

The French pronoun “on<\/em><\/strong>” can be used to refer to a person or to entities that are unknown to the speaker. For example, you can say: “On dit que…<\/strong><\/em>” (“It is said that…”, in the sense of “rumor has it that…”)<\/p>\n

Or “On vous a envoy\u00e9 un\u00a0bouquet de fleurs<\/a><\/em><\/strong>” (“Someone sent you a bouquet of flowers.”)<\/p>\n

Another usage of\u00a0on\u00a0<\/em>in French is the equivalent of\u00a0la voix passive<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0(passive voice.)\"\"<\/p>\n

Informally, “on” can be used as a synonym of “nous<\/strong>“<\/em>\u00a0(“we”):<\/p>\n

“Je sens qu’on va beaucoup s’amuser<\/em><\/strong>” (“I feel like we’re going to have a lot of fun.”)<\/p>\n

When it’s used in the meaning of “nous<\/em>”\u00a0in writing, usually the adjectives and past participles have to agree in gender and number with the referred people.<\/p>\n

For example, if you want to say “We are very happy about the results of our team”, you write: “On\u00a0est tr\u00e8s contents\u00a0des resultats de notre\u00a0\u00e9quipe<\/em><\/em><\/strong>”<\/p>\n

Again, this is only if you mean to be informal in your writing, such as in an\u00a0SMS<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0or a\u00a0Facebook<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0chat for example.<\/p>\n

Aside from “nous<\/em><\/strong>“, “on<\/strong><\/em>” can be used instead of other persons. For example, if you don’t want to say “tu<\/strong><\/em>” or “vous<\/strong><\/em>“, you can say “on<\/strong><\/em>” instead: “Je vois qu’on\u00a0a encore oubli\u00e9 de faire ses devoirs<\/strong>…<\/em>“, in the sense of “I see that [someone\/some people] once again forgot to do their homework…”<\/p>\n

Finally, in formal style, “on<\/em><\/strong>” is often written with an “l’<\/strong><\/em>“, as in “l’on<\/em><\/strong>“, which can be regarded as more elegant than just “on<\/strong><\/em>” by itself.<\/p>\n

In her “Notre-Dame de Paris<\/a><\/strong>“, \u00c9dith Piaf sings:<\/p>\n

“Dans le jardin de\u00a0Notre-Dame<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

In the garden of Notre-Dame<\/p>\n

O\u00f9\u00a0l\u2019on\u00a0se fait de bons amis<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Where\u00a0one<\/strong>\u00a0makes good friends.”<\/p>\n

More on French pronouns here on the Transparent French Blog:<\/p>\n

Quickly Become a \u201cFrench Pro\u201d of \u201cles PRONOMS<\/em>\u201d (Pronouns)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s time to turn French Grammar “ON” again here on the Transparent French Blog! And what a coincidence it is, because today you’ll be given a few precious pointers as to how to use the indefinite French\u00a0pronoun\u00a0“On“, which, as we know very well, can often cause some serious headache to the\u00a0d\u00e9butants\u00a0learners of the French language…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[6,13],"tags":[346,276124],"class_list":["post-20123","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-grammar","category-vocabulary","tag-french-grammar","tag-french-indefinite-subject-pronoun"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t