On = we, one, people

I'm not sure what you mean by where? In what kind of situation? On is more informal than nous. So in writing and formal situations, you'd use nous more often while you'd use on in casual conversations and writing (like texts and emails to a friend).

Hi Jan, 

If you take a look at the following lesson on the passive voice, using 'on' is one of the way to avoid  it...

https://kwiziq.learnfrenchwithalexa.com/revision/glossary/voice/la-voix-passive-passive-voice.

When you don't know who 'on' refers to -

On dit qu'il est parti sans payer = it is said the he left without paying

On a trouvé une carte d'identité dans le jardin = An identity card has been found in the garden

Hope this helps!

Yes, pense-t-on means "Does one think..."

It could also mean "Do we think" but the inverted form of the question, which is used primarily in a higher register of French, clashes with the more colloquial use of on meaning "we".

So, to make a question, just inflect `On dit/peut dire que Caligula était fou? 

Good point about mixed registers, thanks.

Vous as a plural pronoun adresses a specific group. You--group of people--that I'm talking to right now. On is more general and also more...all encompassing, for lack of a better word. 

To illustrate this with a sentence:

Vous ne devriez pas vous battre-- You two people that I'm talking to shouldn't fight.

On ne devrait pas se battre-- People in general shouldn't fight

I hope that helps (and makes sense).

Technically on is the equivalent on "one" meaning one hypothetical person. In English, we also conjugate this in the third person singular. "One is" not "One are" even though "One is responsible for ones own life" can very well mean "We (people) are responsible for our own lives). 

Of course on is also used in ways one cannot be used, to mean we. My guess (and this is just that, a guess) is that the plural usage of on came into use long after its conjugation in third person singular was established and people just kept saying "On est" even in cases where it means "we". It is indeed interesting to think about

Hi Liz,

Indeed you are right, the French will use 'on' for 'nous' all the time that is why teaching it is so important....

In formal written form, 'nous' will be more elegant...

Hope this helps!

so they can be interchangeably  but french speakers use ''on'' on daily basis. while ''nous'' is used mostly for very formal and written form?

In a nutshell yes....

Thanks for you reply.

Do you have a question, Jane?

Interesting.

I think the "normal" idiom in French is:

"On n'a que ce que l'on mérite." (literally: one only has that which one deserves).

For the purposes of that video, and to bring it into line with the English idiom, I think the n' has been removed, but not the "que".

I think it should read:

"On a ce que l'on mérite." (literally: one has that which one deserves).

So the orator didn't pronounce the first que, because he didn't think it was there. If he knew it was there, he would have removed it (that's what I think has happened here anyway).

Hi paola,

This is a third party resource so we have no control over it but a good point nevertheless.

I would argue that if you use 'ce que l'on ' ( which could have been 'ce qu'on') you should have 'on n'a' ( with the 'ne' explétif ) to keep the same register .

On n'a que ce que l'on mérite...

You can say either:

On doit dormir la nuit. Or Il faut dormir la nuit.

Il faut already means "one must" or "it is necessary".

Hi Eve,

The verb 'falloir' only has one form - an impersonal il ---- Il faut

It is similar in meaning to the impersonal 'on doit ..."

If you also look at my answer to a similar question: 

https://kwiziq.learnfrenchwithalexa.com/questions/view/il-faut-1

Hope this helps!

Hi Shari,

'On ne peut pas stationner ici'    is     'You cannot park here'...

The you here applies to everyone, in other words,  it is forbidden to park here.

It is a bit like: 

On ne sait jamais ce que nous réserve l'avenir = You never know what the future holds

Which is a saying for a truth that applies to everyone.

Not sure what you mean about the verb tense not matching...

Hi Shari,

All 3 are correct - I just tried the question myself and it accepted all 3.

With these multiple selection questions, I sometimes find that one of the answers I was sure I had selected is missing. Then it can be confusing when you compare the correct answer with what you supposedly entered. Maybe that's happened to you.

I have a feeling there may be a bug somewhere - perhaps if you click on the answers too quickly.