{"id":31779,"date":"2020-01-14T05:42:42","date_gmt":"2020-01-14T04:42:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/?p=31779"},"modified":"2020-01-12T22:42:28","modified_gmt":"2020-01-12T21:42:28","slug":"french-language-demonstrative-pronouns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/french-language-demonstrative-pronouns\/","title":{"rendered":"French Language – Demonstrative Pronouns"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pronouns are handy – they can save us from repeating the same nouns over and over again – and important – as you get deeper into language learning, knowing your pronouns will help you understand more … and sound more like a native!\u00a0But pronouns can also be tricky. An especially tricky category of pronouns is les pronoms d\u00e9monstratifs<\/strong> (demonstrative pronouns<\/em>) which we’ll explore today.<\/p>\n

You can explore other pronouns in French here<\/a>. And you can read about demonstrative pronouns linguistic cousins, the demonstrative adjective, here<\/a>.<\/div>\n

Les pronoms d\u00e9monstratifs\u00a0<\/strong>are useful for answering the question “Which ______ ?”\u00a0With one exception (see below) les pronoms d\u00e9monstratifs,<\/strong> like all pronouns, agree in gender and number<\/a> with the noun (or nouns) they are replacing (and like their cousins the adjectives do with the nouns they modify). As such, they come in masculin<\/strong> (masculine),\u00a0<\/em>f\u00e9minin<\/strong> (feminine),\u00a0<\/em>singulier\u00a0<\/strong>(singular<\/em>), and\u00a0pluriel<\/strong> (plural). <\/em>They include:
\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\t\n\t
<\/td>SINGULIER<\/B><\/th>PLURIEL<\/B><\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
MASCULIN<\/B><\/td>celui
\ncelui-ci
\ncelui-l\u00e0<\/td>		ceux
\nceux-ci
\nceux-l\u00e0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
FEMININ<\/B><\/td>celle
\ncelle-ci
\ncelle-l\u00e0<\/td>		celles
\ncelles-ci
\ncelles-l\u00e0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n

The simple forms (celui, celle, ceux et celles<\/em>) are used to identify a specific item or group of items from all the rest. As in:<\/p>\n

J’aime bien ta chemise<\/span>, mais je pr\u00e9f\u00e8re celle<\/span> que tu as mise hier.
\n<\/strong>I really like your shirt<\/span>, but I like the one<\/span> you wore yesterday better.<\/em><\/p>\n

J’aime bien les histoires d’aventures<\/span>, surtout celles<\/span> \u00e9crites par Alexandre Dumas.
\n<\/strong>I like adventure stories<\/span>, especially ones<\/span> written by Alexandre Dumas.<\/em><\/p>\n

– O\u00f9 est-ce que tu as mis mon livre<\/span>? – Lequel? – Celui<\/span> que je lisais tout \u00e0 l’heure?
\n<\/strong>– Where did you put my book<\/span>? – Which one? – The one<\/span> I was reading earlier?
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

The\u00a0formes compos\u00e9es <\/strong>(composed forms)<\/em> replace items or groups of items entirely. Those ‘en -ci’<\/em> refer to things that are closer at hand (think ‘this’<\/em> in English) while those ‘en -l\u00e0’<\/em> refer to things further away or secondary (think ‘that’<\/em> in English).1<\/a><\/sup>It can be helpful sometimes to think of the French words ici<\/em> and l\u00e0-bas<\/em><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

[Au magasin] Dame: Est-ce que je peux essayer les chaussures rouges<\/span>? Vendeuse: Celles-ci?<\/span> Dame: [Indiquant de la main] Non, celles-l\u00e0<\/span>.
\n<\/strong>[At the store] Woman: Can I try on the red shoes<\/span>? Saleswoman: These<\/span>? Woman: [Pointing] No, those ones<\/span>.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

[Dans le cour] Surveillant: Mais quelle bazarre! Ils sont \u00e0 qui tous ces v\u00e9los?<\/span> [Gar\u00e7on] Celui-ci<\/span> est \u00e0 moi, monsieur. Et celui-l\u00e0<\/span> est \u00e0 Manu. Pour les autres, je ne sais pas.<\/strong>
\n[In the yard] Monitor: What a mess! Whose bikes<\/span> are these? [Boy] This one<\/span> is mine, sir. And that one<\/span> is Manu’s. As for the rest, I don’t know.<\/em><\/p>\n

Photo by\u00a0ROMBO\u00a0<\/a><\/strong>from\u00a0Pexels<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n