The French don't say NOUS

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Go on guys. No more excuses about not being able to be immersed because you don't live in France. Get 70% OFF a lifetime subscription to LingoPie with my link: learn.lingopie.com/frenchplainsight

[@saleh9946]

I found myself like a child here who doesn't know anything at all. Before watching, I was like bragging of a few french words among friends and showing off. Now I know exactly how poor I am. 😢 Thanks anyway, how great you are! Mercy poucoup

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

French is constantly humbling me too. When we feel amazing and accomplished, there's still so much we don't know. So, knowing that, doesn't it remind us that reality is whatever we make it in our mind? Keep going!

[@saleh9946]

@@FrenchinPlainSight Thanks for your replying back. Wish someday if I could make any progress forward.

[@barbarabingham799]

Hi Alex, Thankyou. always enjoy your videos my French is limited (trying to teach myself) reading reading reading and listening along with self study. I find your explanations very helpful you put a lot of work into the lesson. Thankyou again.

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

You are not "trying" to teach yourself, Barbara. You "are" teaching yourself. If you need more help, we are here for you. Tu n'es pas seule :)

[@Frahamen]

A use of "on" I use quite often is when explaining how something works or to explain a route "on clique sur cette lien" or "on va par la".

[@jonathancahal7076]

1. On a pas rien besoin de lait. 2. Pas vrai. On se voit tous les matins 3. On habite à Paris dans une maison qu’on a acheté Merci beaucoup Alex, Tu fais les clips meilleurs!

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Bravo bravo Jonathan!

[@Aritul]

Thank you!

[@Lvestfold4143]

I have become accustomed to using "on" more than "nous" in my French classes and studies. I understood most of the video.

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Well done!

[@Lvestfold4143]

@@FrenchinPlainSight thank you!

[@Aritul]

Thank you so much for making and sharing these videos.

[@susanwallis7249]

Oh wow!! This is the first time I have been able to get my head around this. Thank you!

[@pietervanoostrum1695]

Question: is this also the custom in other French-speaking regions, like Luxembourg or Wallonne?

[@julienserre8867]

Hi, I'd like to complete just a little. As did Alex explain, the use of "on" when replacing "nous" will make you SOUND like french. However you must understand that it is incorrect tu use "on" instead of "nous". "nous" designates a group of people identified. It is plural. "on" designates either someone we don't know or everyone. It is singular. Alex gave a good exemple for the first case : "on nous a fait visiter l'appartement" = "We were shown around the apartment". The "on" cannot be replaced by "nous". In the second case I can take an exemple I saw in the comments : "on clique ici" = "we click here" = it is the way to do it like almost everyone in the world does it. If I say "on ne mange pas la nuit" it means that it's bad to eat at night. But if I say "nous ne mangeons pas la nuit", it means that me and the other membres of my group (family, friends...) don't eat at night. So even though replacing "nous" par "on" is incorrect we do it a lot and and you should do it to if you want to sound more like french

[@fabricejaouen378]

Je suis impressionné. Ce sont des principes très difficiles à appréhender pour une personne qui parle anglais. Et pourtant en tant que français ça m'est complètement naturel. Pourquoi impressionné ? parce qu'on sent que la langue française te passionne vraiment, tu vas hyper loin dans la précision, dans la recherche, dans les explications. épatant

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Merci Fabrice. Ça me touche vraiment :) Maintenant, il me faut sortir trouver des amis 😂

[@Cor6196]

Question : Nous sommes allés au cinéma > On est allés au cinéma But : Nous nous sommes trompés > On s'est trompé I'm confused about how to write the past participle when I shift from NOUS to ON: I think that ON is grammatically singular, but the SE can be either, so should I write the past participle (referring back to the SE) as either singular or plural? For example: Nous nous sommes arrêtés pour regarder la lune > On s'est arrêté pour... On s'est arrêtés pour....

[@julienserre8867]

Hi, in fact "On" is singular and a sort of neutral pronoun such as "it". The result is that you conjugate juste like "il". So "on est allé" and not "on est allés"

[@Cor6196]

⁠@@julienserre8867Then our host has made a mistake: From 2:04 to 2:09 the screen shows "Nous sommes allés au cinéma" > "On est allés au cinéma." Take a look! PS He does do the opposite at 2:46 where "nous nous sommes trompés" becomes "on s'est trompé."

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Hi. I was careful about this, but I do sometimes make a mistake. I believe that when we use "on" for "nous", because it is technically a grammatically-incorrect use of "on", we can add the "s" or not, since, as per the grammatically correct use of "on", it would always be singular. However, if we use it for "we", logic dictates that we may add the "s". I see it added and I see it omitted. I chose to add it here. As for "on s'est trompé" I may well be incorrect about this because it's more advanced than my knowledge. As far as I know, the pas participle must agree in gender and in number with the subject when the reflexive pronoun represents a COD (direct object). When it's a COI (indirect object), no agreement is needed. When I made the video I was thinking se tromper is a verb that only exists in pronominal form and as such, the "se" represents neither the COD or COI. Actually, it does exist in both pronominal and non-pronominal (se tromper and tromper), and "se" is probably a COD. In that case, if "on s'est trompé" refers to "we made a mistake", then I admit je me suis trompé. It should be "on s'est trompés". Again, if my first point is correct, the "s" is optional. Knowledgeable natives: please weigh in!

[@louisfrancisco2171]

@@FrenchinPlainSight You are right. When you use "on" to mean "nous", it is correct to consider it as plural.

[@MaryAnneMcCoy-w6e]

1)on n'a pas besoin du lait 2)vraie 3)On habite a Paris dans une maison qu'on a achetee

[@berksbookloverberkshire4809]

On n’a pas besoin de lait. 👍 On habite à Paris dans une maison qu’on a acheté.

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

1. Parfait. 2. Non. C'est faux. On nous voit tous les matins = One sees us every morning. 3. Oui. Bien :)

[@markholmphotography]

Sure wish all the language learning apps would fix this issue.

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Then I wouldn't have any business 😂

[@krismacnulty3216]

1.On n'a pas besoin de lait 2.Vrai 3.On habite à Paris dans une maison qu'on a acheté

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

1. Parfait. 2. Non. C'est faux. On nous voit tous les matins = One sees us every morning. 3. Oui. Bien :)

[@pietervanoostrum1695]

Les bonnes réponses: 1. On n’a pas besoin de lait 2. Wrong. I wpuld say: they see us every morning 3. On habite à Paris dans une maison qu’on a acheté

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

yes! And since you are so spot on, I'll give an advanced correction for number 3: "une maison qu'on a achetée". When the direct object (COD en français) goes before the verb, the past participle must agree in gender and number. It doesn't change the pronunciation in any way for this one though.

[@pietervanoostrum1695]

@@FrenchinPlainSight Ah yes, thank you. I know this but I just forgot to apply it.

[@mireillevillemaire8191]

1) on a pas besoin de lait. 2) faux 3) on habite à Paris une maison qu’on a achetée

[@bilong92]

Using nous is a nous-anced topic

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Ahah. Chapeau !

[@bassamal-kaaki3253]

There is an error in « Tu nous a donné les clés ». It should be Tu nous as donné les clés 😊

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Grrrr. How did I miss that? Oh well. Thanks for pointing it out!

[@bassamal-kaaki3253]

@@FrenchinPlainSightBien sûr, ça fait mon plaisir 😊