What about "on"?

Anne D.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

What about "on"?

Sorry to add to an already long thread, but I have a feeling that when using "on" as informal "we" (rather than impersonal "one") I’ve seen "nous" used as the stress pronoun, not "soi". Is that right? 

Asked 1 year ago
CécileKwiziq team memberCorrect answer

Hi Anne, 

Thank you for those two examples. 

In both of them, soi wouldn't work as it translates as oneself (see ref. below to find other translations), and it is plain 'us' here.

https://www.wordreference.com/fren/soi

 

The pronoun 'soi' ( or the reinforced 'soi-même') is used when 'on' can be replaced by 'one' or 'people', meaning a universal truth -

On est bien chez soi There's no place like home ( Lit- People feel really well in their own home ) 

On n'est jamais si bien servi que par soi-même = If you want something done, do it yourself (Lit- One is never served so well as by oneself.

Hope this helps!

Chris W.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Do you have an example so that we can discuss something specific?

Anne D.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Thanks, Chris. To adapt two of the examples above:

On croit que Céline ne pense jamais à nous (we believe)

On est heureux qu’elle chante aussi bien que nous (we are)

There are two lessons about using "on" to mean "we", but they don’t include stress pronouns (or adjective/ past participle agreement). I think I understand it, but it’d be nice to have it in one of the lessons.

What about "on"?

Sorry to add to an already long thread, but I have a feeling that when using "on" as informal "we" (rather than impersonal "one") I’ve seen "nous" used as the stress pronoun, not "soi". Is that right? 

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