On ne s'était jamais autant ressemblés

David T.C1Kwiziq community member

On ne s'était jamais autant ressemblés

On ne s'était jamais autant ressemblés que ce Noël-là,       - ou     On ne s'était jamais autant ressemblé que ce Noël-là, ?
Asked 2 years ago
CélineNative French expert teacher in KwiziqCorrect answer

Bonjour David,

Chris is correct and his examples are excellent! ;-)

Keep in mind that, nowadays, in the majority of cases, the past participle (with "on" as a subject) will agree in the plural form because "on" usually refers to very precise people. 

Here is a link to a partner site: Agreement with on

And another very interesting one (albeit in French) about "on"Questions sur le pronom « on »

I hope this is helpful.

Bonne journée !

Chris W.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

On ne s'était jamais autant ressemblés... -- We never looked so much alike...

David T.C1Kwiziq community member

But 'on' is singular - why not ressemblé ?

Chris W.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

The pronoun on exhibits some strange behavior when used as the plural "we": the verb is 3rd person singular (était) but the participle matches the intended meaning. Here some examples highlighting the difference:

On est allé à la lune. -- We went to the moon ("mankind" went to the moon).
On est allés au cinéma. -- We went to the movies (mixed gender or male group)
On est allées au cinéma. -- We went to the movies (female group)

On ne s'était jamais autant ressemblés

On ne s'était jamais autant ressemblés que ce Noël-là,       - ou     On ne s'était jamais autant ressemblé que ce Noël-là, ?

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