français · A1 · grammar · 4 minutes
Subject pronouns stay visible
Use pronouns to identify person even when the verb ending is silent.
Understand the choice
Unlike Spanish, French verb forms often sound identical and cannot carry the subject alone. Je, tu, il/elle/on, nous, vous, and ils/elles are structural parts of an ordinary clause.
Core rule: French normally requires an explicit subject before a finite verb; je elides to j’ before a vowel sound or silent h.
Notice it in context
J’étudie le matin et je travaille l’après-midi.
I study in the morning and work in the afternoon.
J’ appears before vowel-initial étudie; full je returns before consonant-initial travaille.
Je cuisine et tu nettoies.
I cook and you clean.
Both pronouns are required and make the contrast explicit.
On parle français ici.
People speak French here.
On takes a third-person singular verb and commonly means we in conversation.
What to remember
- Vous addresses more than one person or one person formally; the verb form is the same.
- Ils can refer to a masculine or mixed group; elles refers only to an all-feminine group.
Common trap: Do not omit the subject in ordinary statements: parle français is a command-like fragment, not the neutral statement “I speak French.”