Understanding the Types of French Pronouns (Les Pronoms)

Grammaire: Les Pronoms

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Updated on January 31, 2019

Pronouns are words that substitute for nouns. There are many different kinds of pronouns, but they can be divided into two main categories: personal and impersonal. This summary will give you an idea of the different kinds of French pronouns; click the links for detailed lessons and examples.

What are personal pronouns? Don't take it personally - "personal" simply means that these pronouns change according to the grammatical person that they represent. This table summarizes the five different kinds of French personal pronouns; for more information, click the column headings to go to the relevant lesson:

Subject	Direct Object	Indirect Object	Reflexive	Stressed
je	me*	me*	me*	moi
tu	te*	te*	te*	toi
il elle on	le la	lui	se	lui elle soi
nous	nous	nous	nous	nous
vous	vous	vous	vous	vous
ils elles	les	leur	se	eux elles

*In the imperative, me and te sometimes change to moi and toi - learn more.

What are impersonal pronouns?

These aren't as cold as they sound—"impersonal" here simply means that, unlike personal pronouns, these pronouns do not change according to grammatical person. However, some of them change to agree in gender and number with the noun that they replace. For details, click the name to read the lesson on that type of pronoun.

Adverbials	(y, en) replace à + noun or de + noun
Demonstratives	(celui, celle, ceux, celles) refer to a previously mentioned noun
Indefinite Demonstratives	(ce, ceci, cela, ça) have no specific antecedent
Indefinites	(autre, certain, plusieurs...) introduce an unspecific quantity or description
Interrogatives	(qui, que, lequel) ask who, what, or which one
Negatives	(ne __ personne, ne __ rien...) negate the noun that they replace
Possessives	(mien, tien, sien...) replace possessive adjective + noun
Relatives	(qui, que, dont...) link clauses
Indefinite Relatives	(ce qui, ce que, ce dont...) link clauses but are unspecific
Subjects	(ce, il) introduce impersonal verbs or expressions

French Pronoun Finder

Want to learn more about a particular pronoun but don't know what type it is? Below is an alphabetical list of all the different French pronouns and includes links to the relevant lessons.

autre	indefinite
ça	indefinite demonstrative
ce	indefinite demonstrative
ceci	indefinite demonstrative
ce dont	indefinite relative
cela	indefinite demonstrative
celle	demonstrative
celles	demonstrative
celui	demonstrative
ce que	indefinite relative
ce qui	indefinite relative
certains	indefinite
ceux	demonstrative
chacun	indefinite
d'autres	indefinite
dont	relative
elle	stressed subject
elles	stressed subject
en	adverbial
eux	stressed
il	subject
ils	subject
je	subject
la	direct object
le	direct object
lequel	interrogative relative
les	direct object
leur	indirect object
le leur	possessive
lui	indirect object stressed
me	direct object indirect object reflexive
le mien	possessive
moi	stressed
le nôtre	possessive
nous	direct object indirect object reflexive stressed subject
on	indefinite subject
où	relative
personne	negative
plusieurs	indefinite
que	interrogative relative
quelque chose	indefinite
quelques-uns	indefinite
quelqu'un	indefinite
qui	interrogative relative
quiconque	indefinite indefinite relative
quoi	indefinite relative
rien	negative
se	reflexive
le sien	possessive
soi	indefinite stressed
te	direct object indirect object reflexive
tel	indefinite
le tien	possessive
toi	stressed
tout	indefinite
tu	subject
un	indefinite
le vôtre	possessive
vous	direct object indirect object reflexive stressed subject
y	adverbial

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Team, ThoughtCo. "Understanding the Types of French Pronouns (Les Pronoms)." ThoughtCo, Apr. 5, 2023, thoughtco.com/french-pronouns-1368927. Team, ThoughtCo. (2023, April 5). Understanding the Types of French Pronouns (Les Pronoms). Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/french-pronouns-1368927 Team, ThoughtCo. "Understanding the Types of French Pronouns (Les Pronoms)." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/french-pronouns-1368927 (accessed June 7, 2023).