We were taught that "On" in French meant "One" in English. As in "One has to wash their hands before eating..." . In everyday English, most people would say "you" instead of "one". As in "you have to wash your hands before eating" and sometimes even qualify it by then saying "as in one, not you" if you felt the person you were talking to thought you literally meant them.

I am a 69 year old Frenchman (who lives in the US). I love your video. In my opinion, there has not been much change in the use of "nous" and "on". Since my youngest age, I was taught that "nous" is formal, and should be used in formal circumstances. "On" was always the preferred option in every day's French although our"purist" French teachers preferred having us using the "nous" form". I grew up in an educated family, and I was known to have a very good spoken and written French. Yet, I seldom used "nous", and this is true to this day. This was true for all my friends and acquaintances growing up. By the way, I also think it is easier for foreigners to use "on" than "nous". There are cases when "nous" cannot be avoided. For example the English sentence "what about us?" would be in French "et nous alors?" One of the commenters below alludes to the fact that "on" can also be "undefined" as is "one" in English. This is another use of "on" of course.

I was always taught that first, you learn the proper grammar of a foreign language. Once you are fluent, you can learn to speak colloquially.

On aime beaucoup de vidéos de Géraldine

"On y va" said the friendly policeman in the morning when we had to leave Bois de Boulogne where we had been illegally camping. This is how I learned it in 1981. 😄But still I think "on" lacks the element of togetherness.🤔

You make it sound as though those of us who learned in a classroom didn't learn "on," but one of the first questions we learn to ask is, "Comment dit-on ..."

I studied French for four years and then I started working with a chef from Metz. I immediately realized that you can't really learn a foreign language in school. French is my fourth language, but I haven't practiced it lately, and that's too bad. I like it a lot.

I wish I had these videos when I studied French in college. I am still embarrassed after all these years since I earned a degree in French that I could never hold a decent conversation. Now I know why. All book learning. No informal conversation ever.

Leçon bien faite à propos d’un sujet qui fait bien trébucher les étudiants étrangers et dont le titre - un peu “clickbait” d’ailleurs - m’avait intrigué. J’ose me permettre certaines observations que je souhaite vous être utiles. @4:52 Il faudrait préciser que cet exemple fait référence à un groupe féminin (‘prêtes’). @5:43 Pour expliquer le cas du ‘on’ impersonnel aux anglophones, il suffit de le traduire par “one”, ainsi que d’autres en ont déjà fait la remarque : “In Spain, one goes to bed late.” “When one has but love…” Cependant, en anglais, cet usage est d’un style plutôt soutenu et même hautain. @8:20 Dans le pléonasme des pronoms sujets pour renforcer ou exprimer l’opposition, tel que « Nous, on est prêts » (ici, en passant, l’accord est correct), « moi, je suis… toi, tu es… » on peut imaginer une préposition elliptique qui force le pronom objet: « Quant à nous, on est prêts. » On peut aussi illustrer l’usage semblable en anglais : “Me, I am ready.” @9:09 Attention ici, deux fautes grammaticales: 1° il faut écrire: « on nous a vus » (pluriel par accord du participe passé qui suit ‘avoir’ : ‘nous’ est l’objet direct et précède; un exemple où l’ouïe sert de bon guide : « nos vacances, on les a prises ») ; 2° il faut : « on s’est vus » (pluriel par accord du participe passé avec verbe pronominal réciproque et pronom objet direct, par syllepse grammaticale). Exemple littéraire : « On ne se serait jamais rencontrés. » (Sartre)

"This is the end of the nous."

Thank-you for this lesson, very helpful! 😊 Just to clarify in Canada we would never say y'all. It's very much a southern usa slang. Just to let you know.

You are a very good teacher! Thank you for this lesson :)

One thing that interests me is how different generations speak differently. I am a 63yo Briton and I know that I speak English differently to someone who is much younger than me. When I speak french I want to speak the same french as a French person my age would - how a french person would expect someone my age to speak. For example, I'm happy to say "on y va au cinema?", but I'd never ever say "wanna go to the cinema".

On in French is a colloquial way to say Nous ! Je suis Francais

I've always wondered why I have trouble understanding french people, but at the same time understanding africans speaking french is so easy. now I realize the difference is french people speak a whole different language than us who learned it at school.

This was fascinating! I wish any of my native-French-speaking high school teachers had bothered to teach us this rule. Maybe they didn't want to confuse us? I will say, though, that the "y'all" comparison could have been left out of this lesson. Y'all is just one regional example of the many ways English speakers around the world address the problem of English no longer having a distinct second-person plural pronoun. Avoiding the "nous" form is not plugging a similar hole in the French language.

❤ me encanta todo tu estilo y la manera de explicar todo Hace años que te sigo y me han servido muchísimo tus lecciones Además practico mi inglés 😅 Muchas gracias

I just love listening to your explanations 😘

Thank you! "Nous arrivons demain" et " On arrive demain"

This is helpful!

Crazy that I knew this before starting to watch the video!!! I'm tickled with myself. I learned this in high school French back in the late 1970s.

J'ai aimé bien l’exercice de la fin de cette vidéo💞

I'm afraid that while this advice might be correct for some parts of the world (like France itself), there are many parts of la Francophonie that still use "nous" liberally in speech (in this case, Franco-Manitoban French, in Canada). Notre langue évolue plus lentement, ici, que dans la Métropole, donc nous continuerons à utiliser « nous », merci bien!

No idea how you popped into my UKposts feed but am pleased. I learnt French to A level in school in England but never knew this. I struggle now to speak it as I live in Spain and Spanish comes into my mind if I try to speak French.

I heard the song about the Pont 'Avignon containing the phrase 'on y danse' when I was very young but it was many years before I learnt about the use of 'on' and 'y.'

The modern English equivalent is "you", applied indirectly, e.g., "You must follow the rules". A more formal, older style, uses the word "One", which can either refer to the speaker themselves (e.g., "One does not wish to complain", where "One" = "I"), or more generally (e.g., "One should comply with etiquette", where "One" = "Everyone", "We" or "People")

Merci beaucoup!! 😃

I moved to Luxembourg nearly five years ago and the first thing my father-in-law told me about learning french was 'use on as much as you can and it will be much less complicated'.

Merci beaucoup pour cette nouvelle thème du debut de fin de semaine et debut de samedi dans le matin

Working in France for more than a year and found my language drifted to using on all the time - I didn’t have formal lessons just learned from spoken language around me

I agree with you that academic and spoken French are quite different. However if you use nous French people will understand and simply conclude you are not French.

For the Portuguese speakers: "on” is the same as “a gente”.

Thank you this is super helpfull. It's interesting we have the same concept in my language (but with an undefined group of more than one person) and there has been a push to eliminate the use. So we are using it less instead of more. I also think the grammar becomes easier in French when you use 'on' and that's probably one of the reasons why it has become more popular.

This is such a good lesson

Funny. In Spanish, the equivalent “Uno” is used instead of “we” but it’s a very particular distant “we”. , very impersonal. Sometimes it’s more like a “you” in English for phrases like “Mira, uno no sabe que va a pasar mañana” -> “look, we/you don’t know what going to happen tomorrow”.

Merci beaucoup Géraldine ! Une bonne leçon ! Hier soir on a bu tout le vin !🍷À la vôtre ❤

This is an excellent example of lingual oddities should be explained rather than, let's say, a video that "documents" a person's claim that French can be learned quickly on a high-carb diet with baguette-shaped books...Very informative!

As shown at 4:40, it is important to note that while "on" is a 3rd person singular pronoun it still (usually) represents a plural subject. So "On est beaux" or "On est belles" depending on the implying gender but plural adjective anyway. On est perdu(e)s , On s'est perdu(e)s, ... On can also represent a second person singular or even a first person singular but those uses are somewhat ironic. "Alors, on ne s'est pas lavé les dents ce matin ?" ( So, one didn't brush his teeth this morning ?) lavé and not lavés because here it represents a singular subject.

During our first six months (1975) living and working in provincial Auvergne, my wife and I had had advanced just enough in our French lessons to feel confident when adventuring out. The first time I recall having heard "On" in the place of "Nous" was when we encountered a special character who spontaneously invited us to his country farm. After seeing the cute baby lambs and other animals he said, "On bois (boit?) un cannon," which meant, "Let's have a glass of 'rouge,' i.e. red wine." It was a special moment and a special introduction to the use of "On." I do hope I got this right because I have been a big fan of "On" ever since.

Formidable!

MERCI

Very well done from start to finish. Merci!

Nous is almost never used in casual french when it is the subject of the sentence. But there is no alternative to nous in many other sentence structures or expressions.

Love these lessons ❤

As a speaker of faux/fou Francais (patchy education, guessing in between and possibly autistic), i gravitated to on because (1) it's valid and (2) pronunciation guessing is easier for the rest of the sentence, you just throw yourself at the third person and hope. French people wonder where the hell i learned my French, but with context and gesturing it's effective 😁

I knew it! The teacher insisted that "nous" is correct but it's so unwieldy I didn't believe them. Unless that changed in the last 30 years.

Grace a toi je comprend maintenant que "le chouette vert" essaye a moi apprendre pour utilise le mot "on". Merci! Je le comprende suffit, mais je ne sait vraiment pourquoi il vous devez utiliser un mot où l'autre. (personne dit moi mon grammaire est nul, seulement si tu veut explique avec ma erreur avec beaucoup de patience. Merci. J'espere on rira ensemble si je lis ca l'année prochaine.)

Je comprends qu’en français parlé, on substitue “on” pour “nous”. Je le ferais en France, mais grammaticalement, je pense que la traduction littérale de “on” en anglais est “one”, comme l’utilisent les Anglais, mais pas les Américains. C’est à dire, grammaticalement, “on” est singulier, même si un peuple choisissent d’utiliser “on” au lieu de “nous” dans la langue parlée. Merci Géraldine pour m’aider à pratiquer le français régulièrement. Au prochain samedi.

French speaker here: I ALWAYS try to avoid "On" and use "nous"! "Nous allons..." sounds so much nicer than "on va..."! But, obviously, bad habits are difficult to eliminate! So, while you are correct to warn foreign speakers to the unfortunately popular "on" form, you should never say "never say"! The correct form is clearly "nous"!

A french native told me not to use "on" but "nous". he considered "on" as most likely improper slang.

While it is the opposite way around in English (as for which is formal and posh), we have we are going to the cinema we go to the cinema vs one is going to the cinema one goes to the cinema or at least that is how I tend to think of it.

wow, I had no idea about this. This is certainly not what I was taught in school.

Wow. It's amazing how heated the responses are to this video! It's in the great French tradition of argumentation!

Thank you so much. This is great

Very interesting! Also, would you also use "nous" in an exclusive sense, that is, "us but not you"? (Some languages, like Cherokee, make this distinction.)

"On" was always the default when I lived in Brussels, and went to the local Athenée.

I have been saying, "Nous avons un changement de plan". Should I say, "On avons un changement de plan?" or is there something else wrong with it - like avons? -Noel LaChance

Very interesting! I have an unrelated question based on your "on aime Paris" example. In a language app I am using, I learnt to use "adorer" when talking about anything other than people. So "J'adore le gateau" but "J'aime ma mère". So is Paris in the same category as people, or is the rule more complicated than the app implies?

Theres a vaguely similar word in english which I assume English "borrowed" from french and that is to use "One". Its quite vague, and contrary to French, sounds more formal. One might use it in a number of ways when one is being vague about who is speaking. It might be used to infer "the general public" or more simply "people". People would say ... one would say... are effectively the same. However, if one were to use to say "One is going to the cinema", you would a) sound very posh albeit dated (and probably pretentious), and b) would be implying just you. So similar, but not quite the same.

Always told to use "Nous" when you were not in close relationship with the person being addressed. - it is in part similar in English.

I wonder of the English use of the term one comes from the french on?

This has shocked my universe to learn that you need the plural form of the adjectives with “On est……”. I think it must also apply to “Tout le monde est……”.

... and I always thought of _"on"_ as déclassé!_

Perhaps someone has already pointed this out, but what about questions where "we" is the subject, but the verb comes first, as in "Quel jour sommes nous"? How would you say, "Are we [whatever]"?

As a quebecois, I thought using "on" in place of "nous" was a Quebec phenomemom. On est plus semblables que je ne le pensais. :)

Now would you use Tu for a older person or use vous out of respect for the elder person. It also depends on the French your speaking since Quebec French is not the same as French from France. Like Canadian English American English and English from England there are differences.

I have no problem using "on" pour "nous", mais... I have been corrected by a French teacher when I used "on" to designate "one". He led me to believe that "on" ONLY means "nous". ergo: confused.

'On' seems to equate to 'one' in English as in: "one goes to the cinema" - although this has a slightly different meaning I bet it came from the word 'on'.

There are times you should use "nous". If you want to stress "on", you say "nous, on". As in, "Eux, ils ne veulent pas y aller, mais nous on veut bien".

Is this different in the north or south? I was in the south and heard nous. I honestly stay far away from Paris and learn the rules change as soon as you get out of there. Thank you for the lesson.

As a kid my dad would always say "on est un con" when I used "on" instead of "nous". And that's the issue I have with your video, while yes, most french people use "on" a lot and so do I, "nous" is still the correct way of saying it and I don't think that anyone should unlearn a proper way of speaking. It's not like a contraction (je suis / I am-> j'suis / I'm). It's like the french speakers that always use "que". It's not because a lot of locals do it that it's not a mistake. Also, "nous" is only formal when used instead of "je" (Comment vas-tu ? Je vais bien. -> Comment allez-vous ? Nous allons bien.) which nobody does.

Say nous, embrace your nous and never let darkness invade it,

It seems this French "on" is used a bit like English "one" as in "One gets confused while learning about spoken French."

I don't speak French, but I thought "nous" meant "we" and "on" meant "one" (both descended from Latin, "nōs" and "hōmo", respectively).

We had a French teacher in the UK with a horrendously English accent whenever he tried to teach us something. We learnt that "on" can only mean "one" as in "one eats a sausage with mayonnaise..." Now I know the real way French people use it. If I had answered his question: "que fais-tu ce soir?" with "on va au cinéma" he would have slapped my knuckles with his ruler.

But how do you add possession to that? My wife and i are taking the ferry with our truck. On va au traversier avec son / notre camion? Which is it?

*"Spoken French has its own rules"* ... Like Czech language. I study Czech here in Prague, and after a year, our Czech teacher announced "Oh, by the way, _nobody_ speaks like this. This is "written Czech", and only the newsreaders speak like this. Spoken Czech is completely different. Oh no .... ha ha

rather like how one used to make use of 'one' as "one eats three times daily." a construction I am finally learning _not_ to use.

How about reflexive verbs? Je me souviens. Tu te souviens. Il/Elle se souvient. On se souvient? On nous souvient?

Fun fact: in Dutch, we Dutchmen use mostly "wij" (pronounced as "wy") for the French "nous" / "on" or the English "we". But older and rural dialects say "ons" as in "ons gaat" (singular!) instead of "wij gaan" (plural!) for "we go" (English). See the resemblance? My guess is that in this rare case French borrowed from Dutch! English uses this also: "Let us go!" See what I mean? The languages always borrow from each other! This keeps languages alive, let's agree?

Could anyone please tell me what the alternatives are that are discussed at about 10:20? I can’t hear what the difference is yet. Thanks!

Je pense que la difference entre "nous" et "on" en le français orale est generational. Quand je restais en normandie, mon hoste qui etait plus vielle que moi dit "nous." Cependant toutes mes amies francaises qui est meme age comme moi diriais "on."

J'ai été élevé avec la notion que "on" est le "pronom personnel impoli" et durant la majeure partie de mes 83 ans de vie je me suis toujours efforcé d'éviter de prononcer ce vocable

But why should I want to speak exactly like a native speaker when speaking French? If I got the pronunciation and grammar right, that's good enough for me.

Ive heard American speakers use "a person" in similar circumstances. As in "how is a person supposed to fit into this dress" Any comments?

I think there is a difference between on in French and Ya'll in English. Ya'll is short for You all and it doesn't include the speaker. I think "on" is more like the Dutch word "men" in the sentence "men gaat naar de bioscoop" (Dutch translation of "on va au cinema") where men stands for "people in general" or "the people/person involved" which can include the speaker. (although in the Netherlands this is not a normal everyday way of speaking)

"Yes, that's tricky: It's French." 😄

Nous vivons ensemble, nous nous conaissons maintenant.

"Never say nous" is a bit extreme. Obviously "on" is used most of the time but there's still a place for "nous."

So to learn french I have to learn English first ????

On peut utiliser on comme sujet, mais on doit utiliser nous comme objet : "Elle nous a parlé."

Interesting! I'm Canadian, not from a majority French speaking province, and we were taught about on only as an pronoun for an unknown person. Is this also the pronoun that would be used by someone who does not wish to be gendered, like singular they users in English?

Please, someone tell Duolingo this. I’m 1/4th through the entire French program on there and we are still having to speak “nous” into our phones.

Fun fact: The French word _nous_ contains the English word _us._ No, us is in nous, it's true!

Spoken is so difficult but not because nous or any other word is not used. It is about pronunciation. I can understand a recent crimi Black spot serie subtitles but almost never audio. It just does not match. Ar least 70 percent sentences spoken do not map into their subtitles... and it is not about that they both never use ne ..pas but just pas. I wonder how kids learn to write .. many typos?The sixth sense of ear intuition is probably trained by francophone immersion...

Rien à voir avec la vidéo, mais j'aime bien le truc avec les oreilles derrière toi

OK! You a French woman or a Quebecer? Makes a big difference!!!

Quant a on? How do you distinguish then between on for we, vs on for 'one'? In English, 'One' as a pronoun is impersonal. It doesn't mean we.

Faut-il utiliser "On y va" au lieu de "Allons-y?" Aussi, on ne devrait pas dire "On adore Paris?"

Est-ce que je regarde la vidéo en entier, ou…? Oh what the heck. « Donne-𝗡𝝝𝗨𝗦 aujourd’hui notre pain de ce jour, pardonne-𝗡𝝝𝗨𝗦 nos offenses, comme nous pardonnons aussi à ceux qui 𝗡𝝝𝗨𝗦 ont offensés, et ne 𝗡𝝝𝗨𝗦 laisse pas entrer en tentation, mais délivre-𝗡𝝝𝗨𝗦 du mal. »