Grammar: Pronouns - Disjunctive

Grammar: Pronouns - Disjunctive

Section: Understanding Disjunctive Pronouns

• Disjunctive pronouns, also known as stressed pronouns or tonic pronouns, are used to put emphasis on a certain person or group in a sentence.

• These pronouns can refer to people and are used when the subject is replaced after prepositions, when they are used alone, or when they are used for emphasis.

• Disjunctive pronouns are generally put at the end of a sentence or clause. For instance, Je vais au parc avec Marie could be rephrased as Je vais au parc avec elle.

Section: List of Disjunctive Pronouns

• The disjunctive pronouns in French are: moi (me), toi (you - informal singular), lui (him or her - formal singular and all cases of third person singular), nous (us), vous (you - formal plural), eux (them - masculine) and elles (them - feminine).

Section: Using Disjunctive Pronouns to Emphasise

• Disjunctive pronouns can be used to emphasise the subject. After stating the subject, you can repeat it using a disjunctive pronoun for emphasis. For example, the sentence, C’est toi qui as fait ça?, translates to Was it you who did this?

Section: Disjunctive Pronouns With Prepositions

• Disjunctive pronouns are used following prepositions such as avec (with), pour (for), sans (without), and chez (at the home of, or among). Example: Je vais au cinéma avec lui translates to I am going to the cinema with him.

Section: Alone Usage of Disjunctive Pronouns

• These pronouns can be used alone, in response to a question or as an agreement. For example, Qui veut aller au cinéma? Moi! translates to Who wants to go to the cinema? Me!

• Additionally, disjunctive pronouns are used in sentences where there is no explicit verb, such as Moi aussi (Me too) or Toi non plus (You neither).