How to use ‘on’ in French
How to use ‘on’ in French ? In this episode, you’ll find out how to use ‘on’ (don’t pronounce the n) instead of ‘we’, ‘someone’, or people!
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How to use ‘on’ in French?
In this episode, you’ll find out how to use ‘on’ (don’t pronounce the n) instead of ‘we’, ‘someone’, or people!
First, let’s pronounce ‘on’ correctly. You’ll start with the ‘o’ sounds and then try to lift the back of your tongue and make the air go through your nose.
So what is ‘On’? ‘On’ is a subject pronoun. What is a suject pronoun? When you say ‘I’, ‘You’, ‘They’, etc…
#1 ‘ON’ as in ‘WE’ in French
In spoken French, drop ‘NOUS‘ for ‘ON‘ when you speak. You’ll sound closer from the way French speech. For example:
Nous allons = On va
Nous faisons = On fait
Nous sommes = On est
Nous avons = On a
Please not that although ‘on’ implies two or more people, you’ll still use the verb in its ‘he/she’ conjugation.
You can find the meaning of these verbs by going here: https://speakfrenchavecmoi.com/french-bootcamp-1-avoir-etre-aller-and-faire/
#2 ‘On’ as ‘people’
Another use of ‘ON‘ is to replace ‘People in general‘ in a sentence.
For exemple ‘People drives on the right in France’ translates into ‘On conduit à droite en France’.
‘On mange le diner entre 19h et 20h30’ = ‘People eat diner between 7:00 and 8:30 pm’
#3 ‘On’ as ‘someone’
Another use of ‘ON‘ is to replace ‘SOMEONE in a sentence.
For exemple, ‘Someone will call you back’ translates into ‘On va vous rappeler’
‘Someone is ringing the doorbell’ = ‘On sonne à la porte’
‘Someone will come shortly’ = ‘On viendra rapidement’
Please make sure that ‘ON’ is always use to refer to people and not things!
Voilà , now you know how to use ‘ON’ in French and the differences in sentences!! I hope it was a five-star experience for you. I really want to be helpful and share my knowledge with you. So if you want to help other listeners to discover my podcast, go ahead an leave a five star rating on Spotify (only in the app), Apple podcast, Audible….
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