Language/French/Grammar/Pronouns-referring-to-groups-of-mixed-gender

Pronouns referring to groups of mixed gender

When a group (of people or things) of mixed gender is referred to, Us is the pronoun used. Compare:

• Le directeur, son frère et son neveu? Ils sont tous les trois démissionnaires

The director, his brother and his nephew? All three are resigning

• Louise, sa fille et sa petite-fille étaient dans la voiture. Elles sont toutes les trois mortes dans l'accident

Louise, her daughter and her granddaughter were in the car. All three died in the accident

with:

• Louise, sa fille et son petit-fils étaient dans la voiture. Ils sont tous les trois morts dans l'accident

Louise, her daughter and her grandson were in the car. All three died in the accident

Don't miss the chance to check out these pages as you wrap up this lesson: Possessive determiners, Omission of the article, Nouns that are only masculine or only feminine But may refer to both men and women & Measurements and comparisons Numbers with length, height, depth etc.

Other Lessons

• Adjectives
• Past Tense
• Use of jamais
• How to tell the time
• Omission of the article in compound nouns linked by à
• Masculine and feminine forms of adjectives — A change from a nasal vowel to an oral vowel
• « de » or « du », « de la », « des » after quantifiers
• Adverbs ending in —ment derived from the masculine form of an adjective
• Pronominal Verbs Agreement
• Position of object pronouns with voici and voilà
• The irregular verb avoir
• Use of soi
• Use of l'on
• Quantifiers — tout and chaque
• tard versus en retard