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A pronoun is a word that stands in for a noun,
or a whole noun phrase, to save you having to repeat yourself
and to avoid boring your audience.
Consider the following question, for example:
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Est-ce que tu as vu le nouveau film de Cédric Klapisch qui est
sorti hier et dans lequel il y a un chat qui se perd et tout un
quartier de personnes qui le cherchent ?
(Have you seen the new film by Cédric Klapisch which came out yesterday
and in which there is a cat which gets lost and a whole neighborhood
of people who look for it?) |
There are two possible ways of trying to answer this question.
You can say:
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Oui, j'ai vu le nouveau film de Cédric Klapisch qui est sorti
hier et dans lequel il y a un chat qui se perd et tout un quartier
de personnes qui le cherchent.
(Yes, I have seen the new film by Cédric Klapisch which came
out yesterday and in which there is a cat which gets lost and
a whole neighborhood of people who look for it.)
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Or you can say:
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Oui, je l'ai vu.
(Yes, I have seen it.)
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Pronouns are a miracle of efficiency. Just imagine how
long it would take to discuss this film without pronouns.
So pronouns are a shortcut, a kind of abbreviation. As
with all abbreviations, though, you run into difficulties if it's not
clear what the pronouns are referring to. Luckily, French has a whole
array of different pronouns so you can keep track of this.
There are:
Exercises:
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