The Disjunctive Pronouns (aka: Stressed Pronouns, aka: Independent Pronoun).
The disjunctive or stressed pronouns look like this (you may ignore the exclamation marks!):
| moi! | (I) me! |
| toi! | you! |
| lui! | (he) him, it! |
| elle! | (she) her, it!! |
| nous! | us! |
| vous! | you! |
| eux! | (they) them (masc.) |
| eux! | (they) them! (fem.) |
Example in English:
Who is there?? It's me!
(I know it should be "I," but let's
talk like the rest of us do!).
Who looks like a monkey. He!
or Him!
Marie-Laure and Mireille are cute. Who" They?
Them?
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The disjunctive pronoun is used in the following cases:
1. When it stands
alone, or when there is no verb following.
Qui est malade? Elle!
----- Who is sick? She!
2. To compare and contrast two elements.
Maria et Maman, eux
sont heureuses mais Papa, lui est triste!
3. After a preposition (location word)
Elle va chez eux.
She is going to their house.
Je vais avec
toi! I am going with you!
4. After "c'est" and "ce sont."
Qui chante comme ça? C'est
lui!
Qui sont seule? Ce sont eux.
5. With a compound subject.
Maria et moi, nous
allons à Fountain Valley (notice: we inserted
"nous).
Pierre et eux, ils dansent ensemble (notice,
we inserted "ils")
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6. With penser à + a person and penser
de + a person.
Nous pensons de lui
--- We're thinking about him
Elle pense à lui
----- She is thinking of him.
7. With parler de + person
Je parle d'eux --- I
am talking about them.
8. With être à
-- le livre est à Paul
-- le livre est à lui.