Language/French/Grammar/Use-of-l'on

Use of l'on

l'on is sometimes used in French for on when it follows a word ending in a vowel (like et, ou, qui, que, si, etc). This is a feature of written, rather than spoken, French:

• Comment savoir si l'on ne demande pas?

How can you know if you don't ask?

• Il faut savoir choisir l'homme avec qui l'on s'engage pour la vie

You have to be careful choosing the man to whom you will commit your life

The use of l' is not obligatory, however.

After mastering this lesson, these related pages might interest you: Possessive determiners, Omission of the article, Past Participle & Common Irregular Verbs.

Other Lessons

• Singular or plural when a number of individuals have one item each
• Stressed pronouns used as the object of a preposition
• Demonstrative pronouns with —ci and —là
• Much More Little Less
• Verbs with prepositions
• Pronominal verbs used reciprocally
• Position of object pronouns with voici and voilà
• Use of the definite article to indicate a habitual action
• Present Tense
• Should I say "Madame le juge" or "Madame la juge"?
• Types of noun
• Polite Form
• Place adverbs
• Ditransitive verbs
• Use of jamais