Independent (Stress) Pronouns

Independent pronouns, listed in Table 1 , may stand alone or follow a verb or a preposition. They are used to emphasize a fact and to highlight or replace nouns or pronouns.

Independent pronouns are used as follows:

• To stress the subject: Moi, je suis vraiment indépendant. (Me, I'm really independent.)

• When the pronoun has no verb: Qui veut partir? (Who wants to leave?) Moi. (Me.)

• After prepositions to refer to a person or persons: Allons chez elle.

  (Let's go to her house.)

• After c'est: C'est moi qui pars. (I'm leaving.)

• After the following verbs:

  • avoir affaire à (to have dealings with)

  • être à (to belong to)

  • faire attention à (to pay attention to)

  • penser à (to think about [of)])

  • se fier à (to trust)

  • s'intéresser à (to be interested in)

  • Ceci est à moi. (This belongs to me.)

• In compound subjects:

  • Lui et moi allons au restaurant. (He and I are going to the restaurant.)

  • Sylvie et toi dînez chez Marie. (Sylvia and you are dining at Marie's.)

  If moi is one of the stress pronouns in a compound subject, the subject pronoun nous is used in summary (someone + me = we) and the conjugated verb must agree with nous. If toi is one of the stress pronouns in a compound subject, the subject prounoun vous is used in summary (someone + you [singular] = you [plural]) and the conjugated verb must agree with the vous. Neither nous nor vous has to appear in the sentence.

• With - même(s) to reinforce the subject: Je suis allé au concert moi-même. (I went to the concert by myself.)

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