Stressed Pronouns

Stressed pronouns (also called emphatic pronouns) are used instead of a noun when you want to emphasize something (e.g : come with me). They can be placed at the beginning or at the end of a sentence.

Here are the French stressed pronouns :

Singular Plural
Moi (I,me) Nous (we, us)
Toi (you) Vous (you)
Lui (he,him) Eux (they, them : masculine)
Elle (she, her) Elles (they, them : feminine)
Soi (oneself, yourself, ourselves)

Please note that some stressed pronouns are identical in form to subject pronouns which can be confusing for non native speakers.

 

When to use emphatic pronouns ?

1) After a preposition :

C’est pour moi ? / Is this for me ?

On va passer chez toi ce soir / We’ll stop by your place this evening

Je vous en prise, après vous ! / Please, after you !

 

2) For emphasis, especially to express a contrast :

Toi, tu ressembles à notre mère mais moi non ! / You look like our mother but I don’t

Ils ont beaucoup de chance eux ! / They are very lucky !

Elles m’énervent elles ! / They (fem.) are getting on my nerves !

 

3) On their own without a verb :

Qui veut aller au cinéma ? Moi ! / Who wants to go to the movie theater ? Me !

Moi ? Ca va ! Et toi ? / Me ? I’m good ! And you ?

Bonne journée ! Toi aussi ! / Have a nice day ! You too !

 

4) After “c’est” and “ce sont”

C’est toi Robert ? Is that you Robert ?

Ce sont eux ! / It’s them !

 

5) When the subject of the sentence is composed of a pronoun and  noun or of two pronouns :

Sophie et toi, vous allez perdre ! / Sophie and you, you are going to lose !

Ma mère et lui ne s’aiment pas ! / My mother and him do not like each other !

 

6) In comparisons :

Tu es plus grand que moi ! / You are taller than me !

Il est plus vieux que toi ! / He is older than you !

 

7) With “même” and “mêmes” :

You can add -même(s) to the stressed pronouns when you want to emphasize something : moi-même (myself), toi-même (yourself), lui-même (himself, itself), elle-même (herself, itself), soi-même (oneself, yourself, ourselves), nous-mêmes (ourselves), vous-mêmes (yourselves), eux-mêmes (themselves,masculine), elles-mêmes (themselves, feminine).

Je l’ai fait moi-même / I did it myself

Tu conduis toi-même ? / You are driving yourself ?

Ils l’ont choisi eux-mêmes ! / They chose it themselves !