Transcript of the video

But most of the time, in French, "on" equals "nous".

We use the pronoun "we" instead of "us".

Hi everyone, hope you're well.

I'm back today with another French video.

Today, we're going to take a look at a tip to help you speak a little more like a native speaker.

If you are new to the channel, I am Elisabeth.

Every week, I offer you videos to help you progress in French and to learn a French that is really spoken in everyday life by the French.

As usual, subtitles are available in French and English if you need them, and if you like the video, don't forget to put a like at the end.

Today, we're going to talk about the pronoun "nous" or rather the pronoun "on". You'll see, you'll understand very quickly, and if you've ever heard of the French together, you'll be very familiar with it.

When we learn a new language, we inevitably learn pronouns.

In French, we learn je, tu, il et elle, nous, vous et ils (and elles).

The different pronouns therefore, to say I am, you are, he or she is, we are, you are, they are.

In French, we also use the pronoun "on".

This is the indefinite pronoun. It's used to refer both to everyone and to anyone in particular.

The verb used after the pronoun "on" is conjugated in the third person singular, as with the pronoun "il" or "elle".

"We are", for example, if conjugated with the verb to be in the present indicative.

Here are two examples. In this street, you can see very old buildings.

In Paris, you can eat macaroons.

You see, we don't represent anyone in particular.

But most of the time, in French, we are equal.

We use the pronoun "we" instead of "us".

"We" then represents the collective, it represents several people. Mathieu and I are getting married.

When speaking, the French almost always use "on" instead of "nous".

Careful, because 'on' isn't conjugated like 'nous', as we saw just before, it's conjugated in the third person singular.

This may seem very strange to you because, as I said, we use "on" to talk about several people, to talk about a group of people, and we conjugate the verb that follows it in the singular.

This may sound very strange.

For example, I can say that my friend Vanessa and I really like this restaurant.

It may sound strange, but that's the way it is.

I think the reason "on" is used so often by French speakers is that it's much shorter and has a much greater impact quickly.

It's quicker to say we really like this restaurant than to say we really like this restaurant. Of course, it's grammatically correct to say we. You can absolutely say it. We'll understand, it's correct.

In this video, I'll give you a tip to speak a little more like a native speaker.

As I was saying, the French are more likely to say we're happy than we are happy, or I'm going to say we're going shopping and not we're going to shop.

Again, you can say we, but it's a question of everyday use.

For example, if someone asks a friend and me did you like this restaurant?

I'll more instinctively answer yes, we really loved the food.

Of course, I could say yes, we really loved the food, but the first formula that's going to come into my head is we really loved the food.

If we had to differentiate between "we" and "us", in terms of usage, we could say that "we" is a little more familiar.

When speaking, the French will almost always say "on" instead of "nous".

Writing is different. We're going to use "we" a bit more if we want to make pretty sentences.

But if I'm addressing friends, for example on WhatsApp or Instagram, I'm going to say "we" for sure.

As I was saying, "we" is a little more familiar, but really, it's very light.

For example, at work, I'm going to say let's have the meeting at 3 p.m., right?

And we're not having the meeting at 3pm, are we?

When we use "we" in speech, it's really a very sustained language.

We are going to use it in a more formal and even very formal context.

If you see people repeatedly addressing each other as "us", it could be that they come from high society, that they are, for example, noblemen.

But in everyday life, when we talk to each other, to our friends, to our colleagues, to our family, it's really what we use by reflex.

We've seen that even if "we" represents a group of people, or several people, the verb that follows it will be conjugated in the singular.

On the other hand, mind you, this is going to sound strange, but if after that you have an adjective or a past participle, it conjugates as if "on" were plural.

So if "we" represent women, the adjective will be in the feminine plural.

For example, I will say my friend Corinne and I went to the movies, we went to the cinema.

It may sound really strange, because you've got this "we", then you've got the singular verb and then you've got the plural past participle.

But that's the spelling rule.

After saying my friend Corinne and I went to the cinema, I could say we were happy to have seen the latest Almodovar film.

Happy, es.

It's the same, of course, if it's two men or a man and a woman.

The adjective or past participle is granted if necessary.

On the other hand, if "on" is used as an indefinite pronoun, as we saw at the start of the video, adjectives and past participles don't agree.

That's it for today.

I hope this little tip helps.

So remember, in most contexts and conversations in French, we use the pronoun "on" to refer to several people instead of the pronoun "nous".

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I'll see you very, very soon.