Language/French/Grammar/Choosing-between-il-est-and-c'est

Choosing between il est and c'est

il est versus c'est with reference to professions, nationality or social status

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.)

• 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

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

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

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

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

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

• 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