What is the difference between il and elle in french

You'll find it before a modified noun, such as mon ami :. C'est mon ami. He's my friend. Or before a disjunctive pronoun moi, toi, lui, etc.

Ah, oui, c'est moi. The State, it is I or "I am the State". C'est can also come before a standalone adjective such as c'est vrai in the example above , but only when you're making a general statement about a situation. Elle est vraie. This story isn't made-up. It's true. Ne vous approchez pas des ours. Lawless French » Grammar Lessons. Pronoms sujets Subject pronouns are a type of personal pronoun that indicate who or what is performing the action of a verb.

Nous devons partir. We need to leave. Characteristics of subject pronouns Serve as the subject of verbs. May be singular or plural, masculine or feminine to agree with the noun subject they replace. French subject pronouns The different subject pronouns are determined by number and person. Informally, it also contracts in front of consonants — learn more. Being able to tell the difference between il singular and ils plural is a little more difficult.

Ils before a word that starts with a consonant also sounds like il so you have to notice the verb. Before a word that starts with a vowel, ils has a liasion, so you then notice the s, which sounds a bit like a z to me. You'll notice that oral French is extremely simplified, and in fact doesn't differentiate some of the things that written French does. This is especially the case in a great majority of the verbal endings ex.

This means, you can't rely on any one native speaker either, because whatever answer they'll give will be based on the rule they learnt at school, rather than relying on native intuition. So if you hear "il" and fail to figure out whether it's a he or they, that's fine. It's not your fault if the context isn't enough.