In this French grammar lesson on subject pronouns you will learn whether you should use tu or vous?
In this lesson you will learn about:
- how to use tu in French,
- how to use vous in French,
- how to know when you should use tu or vous in French,
- how tu and vous are used in sentences
- how tu or vous Anki files can be downloaded.
Please refer to the French A1 Curriculum to get a better overview of French grammar if you are curious about how tu and vous fits in French A1 grammar.
By the end of the lesson you will know all about tu and vous!
Table of Contents
Table of Subject Pronouns
| je | I |
| tu | you (singular informal) |
| il | he, it (masculine) |
| elle | she, it (feminine) |
| on | one, we (informal), people, they |
| nous | we (formal) |
| vous | you (singular formal and all plurals) |
| ils | they (masculine, or mixed masculine and feminine) |
| elles | they (feminine) |
How to Use Tu
Tu has one use. This will be explained and examples will be provided.
- Informal singular you
One uses tu when speaking to:
- Friends
- Family
- Children
- Peers
Tu es mon meilleur ami.
You are my best friend.
Papa, où vas-tu ?
Dad, where are you going to?
Vas-tu faire tes devoirs maintenant ?
Are you going to do your homework now?
Que vas-tu faire demain ?
What are you going to do tomorrow?
How to Use Vous
Vous has two uses. These will both be explained and examples will be provided.
- Formal singular you
This vous will be used when speaking to people in the following categories:
- People we don’t know
- People older than us
- People that hold a higher position than us
Qui êtes-vous ?
Who are you?
Bonjour, M. Bernard, comment allez-vous?
Hello, Mr Bernard, how are you?
Vous avez raison, Monsieur le Président
You are right Mr President
Please note that with this vous you are speaking only to one other person.
- Plural you
This vous will be used when speaking to people in the following group:
- Two or more people
Vous êtes le vainqueur de la coupe du monde !
You [plural you] are the winner of the world cup!
Je sais que vous êtes tous là.
I know that you are all there.
Please note that with this vous you are always talking to multiple people.
How to Know Whether to Use Tu or Vous
Should you be uncertain whether to use tu or vous then the safe path is to use vous.
If however, the other person uses tu, then it is fine to switch to tu as well.
Example Sentences with Tu or Vous
The final section of this lesson on tu or vous is about seeing them in action.
This is valuable because you can improve your understanding on tu and vous through examples.
This section contains all of the previous sentences, neatly organised in one place.
tu (informal singular you)
Tu es mon meilleur ami.
You are my best friend.
tu (informal singular you)
Papa, où vas-tu ?
Dad, where are you going to?
tu (informal singular you)
Vas-tu faire tes devoirs maintenant ?
Are you going to do your homework now?
tu (informal singular you)
Que vas-tu faire demain ?
What are you going to do tomorrow?
vous (formal singular you)
Qui êtes-vous ?
Who are you?
vous (formal singular you)
Bonjour, M. Bernard, comment allez-vous?
Hello, Mr Bernard, how are you?
vous (formal singular you)
Vous avez raison, Monsieur le Président
You are right Mr President
vous (plural you)
Vous êtes le vainqueur de la coupe du monde !
You [plural you] are the winner of the world cup!
vous (plural you)
Je sais que vous êtes tous là.
I know that you are all there.
Test Your Knowledge on Tu or Vous
It’s not enough just to read the article on this subject.
You should test your knowledge to see if you really understood everything, and to be able to repeat the material.
It is also for this reason that it is recommended to download the Anki Decks and do them.
At the end of every lesson you can do a small test.
You will see the sentences of the previous chapter. It is up to you to give the correct answer.
You will either need to fill in the blanks, choose the correct multiple choice option, or both.
Once you are done the correct answer will be shown.
You can redo the quiz as many times as you want!
Anki File for Tu or Vous
It is important to do the Anki excercises for this lesson, so that you can remember what you just studied.
By downloading the Anki File for French A1 you can practice every French A1 lesson that is on Language Atlas.
Click here if you want to have the Anki File for this lesson
If you don’t know why you should use Anki, or don’t know how to use Anki or merge Anki files please click here.
