Language/French/Grammar/Demonstrative-pronouns-with-—ci-and-—là
The forms celui-ci/celle-ci/ceux-ci/celles-ci and celui-là/celle-là/ceux-là/celles-là translate English 'this o n e / t h e s e ones' and 'that one / those ones' respectively. These distinctions are mainly used in formal French:
- Des deux tissus qui sont sur le comptoir, là-bas, il est évident que celui-ci est plus cher que celui-là
Of the two pieces of material on the counter over there, it's obvious that this one is dearer than that one
- Pour moi tous les diamants se ressemblent. Mais ceux-ci coûtent deux fois plus cher que ceux-là
To me diamonds all look the same. But these ones here cost twice as much as those over there
NB: The pronouns with -ci can also mean 'the latter', and those with -là 'the former':
- J'ai rencontré Pierre et Jean-Marie au café. Celui-là arrivait à l'instant d'un entretien avec le percepteur
I met Pierre and Jean-Marie at the café. The former had just come from a meeting with the tax inspector
- Est-ce que vous désirez le flan ou la tarte aux pommes? Celle-ci sort directement du four
Do you want the custard pie or the apple tart? The latter has just come out of the oven
Take a moment to explore these relevant pages as you conclude this lesson: Possessive determiners, Omission of the article, Marked use of tu & How to use Have.
Videos[edit | edit source]
French Demonstrative Pronouns - YouTube[edit | edit source]
Demonstrative Pronouns in French - YouTube[edit | edit source]
Other Lessons[edit | edit source]
- Measurements and comparisons Numbers with length, height, depth etc
- Adverbs ending in —(é)ment derived from past participles
- Indefinite article
- Comparatives and Superlatives
- Changes in the stem form of some —er conjugation verbs
- Order of multiple pronouns with imperatives
- Weather verbs
- Nouns with irregular plurals
- Beau VS Bel
- How to use Have
- Measurements and comparisons in French — Numeral nouns and approximations
- Stressed pronouns
- Adjectives which normally occur before the noun
- Nouns which have the same spoken form but two different written forms
- Ditransitive verbs