You can use celui or celle in order to refer to an individual when you don’t know the identity. For instance, imagine that someone has answered to a phone call : If a woman has answered, you’d refer to “celle ...
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Is there a difference between “this” and “that” in French?
Associations EditorsI can assure you that there’s no difference as per the usage of “c’est/ce/cet/cette”. As a native french speaker, I’ve always struggled to understand the difference between this and that, and I’m still often making mistakes when I speak english ...
Celui-ci / Celui-là / Ceci what’s the difference between them?
Associations EditorsThe meaning is very close between celui-ci and celui-là. In theory, the first one is for things closer than the second one but this nuance is not always respected. The third one has a different meaning. They are close to ...
Can you change “que” to “qui” in “ce que seraient mes pensées”?
Associations Editors“Ce qui” and “ce que” are relative pronouns like “qui” and “que”; they introduce a subordinate clause. The choice between the two depends on the grammatical role, subject or direct object, that the relative pronoun has in the subordinate clause. ...
Necessity of pronouns in “Here is my [adjective] one” type constructs
Business EditorsJe vais vous montrer quelques chiens. Voici mon plus rapide. That is correct; but you could express that better: Je vais vous montrer quelques uns de mes chiens: en voici le plus rapide Je vais vous montrer quelques chiens. Voici ...
What is the difference between “Ça, c’est ~” and “C’est ~”?
Business Editors“Ça, c’est […]” is equivalent to “C’est […]” as far as meaning is concerned. “C’est […]” is just a contraction of “Ça, c’est” (in English it would be equivalent to “That’s“). Roughly, you might say that in certain contexts there ...
When do we use “il” and “ce”? — Quand doit-on utiliser « il » ou « ce » ?
Associations EditorsAn advice which seems to give some insight for this would be: if you can substitute the it in the English sentence by a this or that then it is probably a ce, cela and other variants of them which ...
« Cela dit » versus « Ceci dit »
Associations EditorsC’est parfois un tic verbal, une sorte de pose dans la réflexion ou une façon d’insister qui n’apporte souvent pas grand chose à la démonstration. Lorsque cela devient systématique, on ne peut s’empêcher de penser « Mais qu’est-ce qu’il lui veut ...
Celui-ci or Ceci. What is correct ?
Business EditorsLa formulation la plus naturelle à l’oreille serait probablement : Il doit faire attention à ne pas tomber. C’est le principal danger. ( ou bien : le danger principal. Les deux se disent.) pourquoi C’est ? L’élément de la phrase ...
Does “il y en a” always mean “there is / are some”? Does “il n’y en a pas” always mean “there isn’t / aren’t any”?
Associations EditorsDo these constructions have a standardized way of being translated into English, or can their translation vary based on context? Depending on context, you may prefer to translate “there is (are some)/there isn’t” with “il existe/il n’existe (aucun)”, especialy in ...