Ou s'il s'arrête brusquement

Karl G.B2Kwiziq community member

Ou s'il s'arrête brusquement

Why is, ”ou s'il s'arrête brusquement” in third person singular instead of third person plural?

Merci

Asked 4 months ago
CécileNative French expert teacher in KwiziqCorrect answer

Hi Karl,

There was a hint you might have missed -

"they" = Use singular "il", i.e. quelqu'un

But if you didn't and are asking why we use the third person singular, then Maarten's answer is correct.

bonne Continuation !

Maarten K.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Karl, 

effectively ‘ they ‘ in English can replaced by ‘ he or she ‘, and represents the singular ‘ someone ‘ referred to previously in the original English sentence. 

 French doesn’t replace the impersonal singular ‘ quelqu’un’ with a ‘ plural ‘ pronoun, but stays with the  singular 3rd person pronoun. 

Ou s'il s'arrête brusquement

Why is, ”ou s'il s'arrête brusquement” in third person singular instead of third person plural?

Merci

Sign in to submit your answer

Don't have an account yet? Join today

Ask a question

Find your French level for FREE

Test your French to the CEFR standard

Find your French level
Let me take a look at that...