*Eux* seuls sont venus - why this is correct and not - Ils seuls sont venus
Why 'eux' n not 'ils'?
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Maithilee D.Kwiziq community member
Why 'eux' n not 'ils'?
This question relates to:French lesson "Nous/vous/eux/elles = Us/you/them - simple cases (French Stress Pronouns)"
Asked 10 months ago
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. Kwiziq 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.
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