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Accord avec vous
The personal pronoun vous can be summarized as "the formal and/or plural ‘you ’." It serves as every type of personal pronoun, but its role as a subject pronoun is in some ways the trickiest.
With regard to verb conjugation, vous is always second person plural, no matter how many people it refers to.
Par exemple…
| Monsieur, avez-vous besoin d’assistance ? | Sir, do you need help? | |
| Madame, avez-vous besoin d’assistance ? | Ma’am, do you need help? | |
| Messieurs, avez-vous besoin d’assistance ? | Gentlemen, do you need help? | |
| Mesdames, avez-vous besoin d’assistance ? | Ladies, do you need help? |
In terms of agreement, however, vous is more complicated: it depends on whom exactly vous refers to. If it’s a single man, there’s no agreement, whereas a single woman requires feminine agreement. Likewise, multiple men and multiple women require plural and feminine plural agreement, respectively.
Vous agreement with adjectives
| Êtes-vous prêt, Monsieur ? | Are you ready, sir? | |
| Êtes-vous prête, Madame ? | Are you ready, ma’am? | |
| Êtes-vous prêts, Messieurs ? | Are you ready, gentlemen? | |
| Êtes-vous prêtes, Mesdames ? | Are you ready, ladies? |
Vous agreement with past participles
| Êtes-vous allé à la banque, Monsieur ? | Did you go to the bank, sir? | |
| Êtes-vous allée à la banque, Madame ? | Did you go to the bank, ma’am? | |
| Êtes-vous allés à la banque, Messieurs ? | Did you go to the bank, gentlemen? | |
| Êtes-vous allées à la banque, Mesdames ? | Did you go to the bank, ladies? |
Vous agreement with pronominal verbs
| Vous êtes-vous promené, Monsieur ? | Did you take a walk, sir? | |
| Vous êtes-vous promenée, Madame ? | Did you take a walk, ma’am? | |
| Vous êtes-vous promenés, Messieurs ? | Did you take a walk, gentlemen? | |
| Vous êtes-vous promenées, Mesdames ? | Did you take a walk, ladies? |
Vous agreement with avoir verbs
When vous is a direct object and precedes an avoir verb in a compound tense/mood, it likewise has to agree with the actual gender/number of the noun it represents.
| Monsieur, je vous ai vu au musée. | Sir, I saw you at the museum. | |
| Madame, je vous ai vue au musée. | Ma’am, I saw you at the museum. | |
| Messieurs, je vous ai vus au musée. | Gentlemen, I saw you at the museum. | |
| Mesdames, je vous ai vues au musée. | Ladies, I saw you at the museum. |
Related lessons
- Adjectives
- Compound tenses and moods
- Direct objects
- Past participles
- Personal pronouns
- Verb conjugations
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