Sentences in French are formed, for the most part, in the same way that they are formed in English. Every sentence must have a subject to do something and a verb to indicate what the subject is doing. You can always find your way around the sentence when you know who's doing what. Sentences can get more complex when other words, like prepositions or direct objects, are added, but if you can identify the subject and verb, the other words fall into place.

There are three kinds of subjects — first person, second person, and third person. The following sentences demonstrate the English subject pronouns in action. reviewing these will help you better understand the French subject pronouns.

• First person: I am going to the store.

• Second person: You are going to the store.

• Third person: She is going to the store.

Each of the above also has a plural form. In English, the plural forms would be:

• First person: We are going to the store.

• Second person: You are going to the store.

• Third person: They are going to the store.

The French subject pronouns are seen in Table 6-1. Listen to the CD for their pronunciation.

TRACK 29

Table 6-1

French Subject Pronouns

Note the following slight differences between the way these pronouns are used in English and French:

• English doesn't have a separate second person form to distinguish between singular and plural. French does, so when formulating sentences, you will have to be careful that you make the appropriate choice. Tu is singular, so it is used when talking to one other person. Vous is plural and is used for two or more people.

• In the plural, elles is only used when referring to more than two female subjects. If all the members of the group to which you are referring are not female or if the sex is not known, ils is used as the subject pronoun. It may help to think of ils as “they” in general, including but not limited to males, while elles can only be used when the pronoun is replacing female subjects.

Whenever the plural subject pronouns are used with a verb that begins with a vowel, the “s” sound gets tacked on to the beginning of the next word, in a liaison (see Chapter 1).