Why 'eux' n not 'ils'?

Maithilee D.A2Kwiziq community member

Why 'eux' n not 'ils'?

*Eux* seuls sont venus - why this is correct and not - Ils seuls sont venus 

Asked 1 year ago
Jim J.C1Kwiziq Q&A super contributorCorrect answer

Salut Maithilee,

The simple answer to your query "Why not Ils seuls sont venus ?" is that the lesson is about stress pronouns and "ils" is not a stress pronoun it is a subject pronoun.

The appropriate stress pronoun for "ils" is "eux"     "They are the only ones who came" or "they alone came"

Hope this helps.

Bonne continuation

Jim

Chris W.C1Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Jim's right, eux is the stress pronoun of the 3rd person plural (ils).

Ils sont venus seuls. They came alone. No stress pronoun needed since it's a simple and neutral statement.
Eux seuls sont venus. -- They alone came. Here the stress is on who really came, hence the stress pronoun. The clue is the placement of the adjective seuls

Maithilee D. asked:

Why 'eux' n not 'ils'?

*Eux* seuls sont venus - why this is correct and not - Ils seuls sont venus 

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