69 - How to Use Stress Pronouns in French (Moi, Toi, Lui …)

 
 

Listen to this episode to find out what stress pronouns are in French and how to use them.

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Transcript

Intro: Welcome to the French Made Easy podcast, where I give you all the basics you need to speak French clearly and confidently. I'm your host, Mathilde, and I'm a French teacher, mumpreneur, and bread and cheese lover. Join me as I dive into all things French for beginners, and deliver to you bite-sized and easy-to-follow lessons every Tuesday. Let's get started, "on commence"!

Bonjour à tous! Welcome back to the French Made Easy Podcast! This is episode number 69, numéro 69! 

Today we're doing a bit of grammar! In this lesson, I will teach you what stress pronouns are in French and how to use them.

Because I want to keep this lesson as simple as possible for you and not overwhelm you, today I'll focus on teaching you three ways to use stress pronouns. They can be used in more ways, but as a beginner, that's all you need to know for now.

If you're new to the podcast, then before you get started on this lesson, make sure you have your lesson cheat sheet in front of you, so you can have a look at the words while hearing them.

After the lesson, head over to the French Made Easy library to download your lesson's exercises so that you can practice. And it's free. 

Ok, so let's get started. What are the stress pronouns in French? 

Please repeat after me, répétez après moi.

  • moi (me)

  • toi (you)

  • lui (him)

  • elle (her)

  • nous (us)

  • vous (you)

  • eux (them - masculine)

  • elles (them - feminine)

Très bien. Now let's see three ways to use stressed pronouns. 

#1 Use stress pronouns to emphasize a subject pronoun or a noun

Just a quick reminder that the subject pronouns in French are "je, tu, il, elle, on, nous, vous, ils and elles." but if you don’t know how to use subject pronouns, please go back to episode number 14 first. Otherwise, you might get a bit lost.

Let see some examples:

If I say: "Je suis française."

To emphasize the subject pronoun "je," I'm going to add "moi." 

That gives me: Je suis française. -> Moi, je suis française. ([Me] I'm French.) 

Attention, though, it's not replacing the subject pronoun, just reinforcing it. Don't say "Moi, suis française."

Another example, 

"Tu es canadien et il est mexicain." (you're canadien and he's mexican.) I want to emphasise "tu" and "il" -> Toi, tu es canadien, et lui, il est mexicain."

#2 Use stress pronouns after a preposition to avoid a repetition

Par example, if someone asks me: "Tu vas en vacances avec Julie?"

"avec" is a preposition 

I could reply "Oui, je vais en vacances avec Julie". But I'm creating repetition here so that's not great. 

So instead, I'm going to replace Julie with the stress pronoun "elle."

"Oui, je vais en vacances avec Julie" -> "Oui, je vais en vacances avec elle." (Yes, I'm going on holiday with her.)

Another example, 

"Ce cadeau est pour tes parents ?"

"Oui, ce cadeau est pour mes parents." To avoid repetition -> "Oui, ce cadeau est pour eux." You can even go further and remove "ce cadeau” and say "Oui, c'est pour eux."

#3 Use stress pronouns with "aussi" and "non plus"

So if someone says "J'ai faim, et toi ?”

To reply to that person, I could say, "J'ai faim aussi. (I'm hungry too.) 

But the shorter, easier version is to say "Moi aussi." (me too.)

I'm hungry too. -> Moi aussi. (Me too.)

But if someone uses the negation, and says "I'm not hungry."

To reply to that person, I could say, "Je n'ai pas faim non plus." (I'm not hungry either.)

But again, a shorter, easier version is to say:

"Je n'ai pas faim." -> "Moi non plus" (Me neither) 

Ok, so let's do a quick recap. 

The stess pronouns are:

  • moi

  • toi

  • lui

  • elle

  • nous

  • vous

  • eux

  • elles

3 ways to use them:

  • Use stress pronouns to emphasize a subject pronoun or a noun: “Moi, je suis française.”

  • Use stress pronouns after a preposition to avoid repetition: “Je vais en vacances avec elle.”

  • Use stress pronouns after answers with "aussi" and "non plus": “Moi non plus.”

Alright, that's the end of today's lesson! I hope you enjoyed it! If you did, I'll really appreciate a quick rating and review on Apple Podcast. Don't forget to download your lesson's exercises to practice what you've learned today. 

Merci beaucoup, et à bientôt. 

/!| The stress pronoun for ‘on’ is ‘nous’! Since ‘on’ is mostly used in the sense of ‘we’.

 
Mathilde Kien14 Comments