Personal Subject Pronouns

English	French	Example
I	je	Je mange. — I eat.
You (singular)	tu/vous	Tu manges. — You eat.
He/It	il	Il mange. — He eats.
She/It	elle	Elle mange. — She eats.

 

Tu or Vous?

French has two words for the subject pronoun “you”: tu and vous. For a singular “you”, tu should only be used for friends, peers, relatives, children, or anyone else who’s very familiar to you. In all other cases and also for plurals, the more polite vous should be used to show respect. When in doubt, use vous.

 

Subject-Verb Agreement

Notice above that the verb manger (as well as its English equivalent, “to eat”) changes form to agree grammatically with the subject.

Subject	Manger (To Eat)	Être (To Be)	Avoir (To Have)
je	je mange — I eat	je suis — I am	j’ai — I have
tu	tu manges — you eat	tu es — you are	tu as — you have
il/elle/on	il mange — he eats	il est — he is	il a — he has

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