Quebec French Syntax - Pronouns

Pronouns

In daily use, Quebec French speakers frequently use a substantially different set of subjective pronouns in the nominative case from those traditionally used in standardized French:

je/ tu/ y, a/ on/ vous/ y (instead of je/ tu/ il, elle/ nous/ vous/ il(s), elle(s))

with --> when used with the verb and copula être

• In common with the rest of the Francophonie, there is a shift from nous to on in all registers. In post-Quiet Revolution Quebec, the use of informal tu has become widespread in many situations that normally call for semantically singular vous. While some schools are trying to re-introduce this use of vous, which is absent from most youths' speech, the shift from nous to on goes relatively unnoticed.

• The traditional use of on, in turn, is usually replaced by different use of pronouns or paraphrases, like in the rest of the Francophonie. The second person (tu, té) is usually used by speakers when referring to experiences that can happen in one's life:

Quand té ben tranquille chez vous, à te mêler de tes affaires ...

Other paraphrases using le monde, les gens are more employed when referring to generalisations:

Le monde aime pas voyager dans un autobus plein.

• As in the rest of la Francophonie, the sound is disappearing in il, ils among informal registers and rapid speech. More particular to Quebec is the transformation of elle to and less often written a and è or 'est in eye dialect. See more in Quebec French phonology.

• Absence of elles - For a majority of Quebec French speakers, elles is not used for the 3rd person plural pronoun, at least in the nominative case; it is replaced with the subject pronoun ils or the stress/tonic pronoun eux(-autres). However, elles is still used in other cases (ce sont elles qui vont payer le prix).

• -autres In informal registers, the stress/tonic pronouns for the plural subject pronouns have the suffix –autres, pronounced /ou̯t/ and written –aut’ in eye dialect. Nous-autres, vous-autres, and eux-autres are comparable to the Spanish forms nos(otros/as) and vos(otros/as), yet the usage and meanings are different. Note that elles-autres does not exist.