Language/French/Grammar/Choosing-between-il-est-and-c'est
il est versus c'est with reference to professions, nationality or social status[edit | edit source]
There are two ways of indicating a person's profession, nationality or social status: il/ils and elle/elles are used with the verbs être, devenir, rester and a noun without an article:
- Il est médecin
He is a doctor
- Elle est devenue professeur
She became a teacher
- Elles sont avocates
They are lawyers Elle est toujours restée femme au foyer She always was a housewife
- Ils restent hollandais, bien qu'ils aient quitté les Pays-Bas il y a 20 ans
They remain Dutch, although they left the 'Netherlands 20 years ago
ce is used when the noun is preceded by a determiner (un, une, le, la, etc.)[edit | edit source]
- C'est un Russe
He's a Russian
- C'est un avocat
He's a lawyer When the noun is modified, a determiner is required and therefore ce (not il/elle) must be used:
- C'est un médecin connu
He's a famous doctor
- C'est un boxeur professionnel
He's a professional boxer
- C'est une avocate qui connaît le droit anglais
She's a lawyer who knows English law
- C'est un professeur de Toulouse
He's a teacher from Toulouse
il est versus c'est in more general contexts[edit | edit source]
When être is followed by anything other than an adjective, ce is the pronoun to use, NOT il:
- C'est un plaisir (NOT *il est un plaisir)
It's a pleasure
- C'est Marie (NOT *il, *elle est Marie)
It's Marie
- C'était en été (NOT *il était en été)
It was in summer
- Ce sera pour elle
It'll be for her
il est versus c'est when être is followed by an adjective alone[edit | edit source]
When être is followed by an adjective alone, both il a n d ce are possible but there is a difference in meaning. In these examples, il is personal but ce is impersonal or neutral:
- II est stupide will normally mean
He is stupid
- C'est stupide will normally mean
That's silly
- Il est curieux will normally mean
He's inquisitive
- C'est curieux will normally mean
That's odd
- Il est incroyable will normally mean
He's amazing
- C'est incroyable will normally mean
That's unbelievable
il est versus c'est when être is followed by adjective + clause or infinitive[edit | edit source]
But when être is followed by an adjective which is itself followed by a clause or infinitive, both il and ce are possible and both are then used in an impersonal sense:
- Il/c'est difficile de formuler une politique
It's difficult to formulate a policy
- Il/c'est intéressant d'observer les passants
It's interesting to watch the passers-by
- Il/c'est impossible d'ouvrir ces huîtres
It's impossible to open these oysters
Some grammars will sometimes claim that il est is the only form to use in these constructions, but c'est is widely used in all spoken styles of French, and is often also found in these constructions in the written language.
Other common adjectives which behave in this way are[edit | edit source]
| French | English |
|---|---|
| agréable | fun |
| bon | good |
| commode | convenient |
| dangereux | dangerous |
| difficile | difficult |
| étrange | odd |
| évident | obvious |
| facile | easy |
| important | important |
| impossible | impossible |
| insupportable | intolerable |
| intéressant | interesting |
| inutile | useless |
| mauvais | bad |
| nécessaire | necessary |
| pénible | tiresome |
| périlleux | perilous |
| possible | possible |
| peu probable | unlikely |
| utile | useful |
| vrai | true |
NB: In the impersonal constructions illustrated above, the preposition which links the adjective to the following infinitive is always de.
il versus ce used with être + adjective + à[edit | edit source]
In the examples immediately above, il and ce are impersonal. They are used like 'it' and 'there' in English without reference to anything else in the conversation or text: in these cases the adjective is linked to the infinitive by the preposition de. But il can also be used as a personal pronoun, and ce as a neutral pronoun in similar constructions when the preposition linking the adjective and the infinitive is à: Leur politique est difficile à accepter
(Leur politique), elle est difficile à accepter
(Leur politique), c'est difficile à accepter
Ce document est intéressant à analyser
(Ce document), il est intéressant à analyser
(Ce document), c'est intéressant à analyser
Here il, elle and ce refer to something mentioned elsewhere in the conversation or text (in this case to leur politique, ce document).
Other Lessons[edit | edit source]
- ils with arbitrary reference
- Coordination of stressed pronouns
- Definite article
- Adjectives
- Easy way of generating the present subjunctive
- « de » or « du », « de la », « des » after quantifiers
- Fused forms of the definite article
- Déterminants
- Indirect and Direct Transitive Verbs
- Plural indefinite article "des" VS preposition "de" and definite article "les"
- Weather verbs
- Relative pronouns
- y and en as an integral part of the verb structure
- Adverbs ending in —ment derived from the feminine form of an adjective
- Ditransitive verbs