Language/French/Grammar/Use-of-il,-ce,-cela-and-ça-as-impersonal-pronouns

Use of il, ce, cela and ça as impersonal pronouns

The clearest use of impersonal subject pronouns is with verbs where il, ce, cela and ça simply mark the subject position without referring to someone or something elsewhere in the conversation or text:

• II pleut

It's raining

• Il neige

It's snowing I*l fait du vent It's windy

• C'est difficile de le joindre au téléphone

It's difficult to reach him by phone

• C'est dommage qu'elle ne soit pas venue

It's a pity that she didn't come

• Cela inquiète ma mère de les savoir dehors par ce temps

It worries my mother to know that they are out in this weather

• Ça m'étonne qu'elle n'ait rien dit

It amazes me that she said nothing

In these cases il, ce, cela, ça express very little meaning (indeed, in some languages impersonal constructions are characterized by the absence of a subject, for example Spanish Llueve '(it) is raining'). This impersonal use of il, ce, cela, ça in French corresponds to the impersonal use of 'it', and sometimes "there' in English.

Take some time to dive into these other pages after completing this lesson: Possessive determiners, Omission of the article, encore VS toujours & Infinitives.

Other Lessons

• Pronouns referring to groups of mixed gender
• The plural of compound nouns
• Abstract versus concrete nouns
• subjects objects pronouns
• French Ditransitive verbs
• Omission of the article in participle + noun constructions linked by de
• Polite Form
• Years
• Hyphens in Cardinal Numbers
• Plural of words in "Al"
• Nouns which change form when they refer to males or to females
• Object pronouns in coordinated clauses
• Comparative and superlative forms of adverbs
• Reciprocal se and cases of potential ambiguity
• Stressed pronouns standing alone