Neutral pronoun – pronom neutre
Let's Define It!
What's a *neutral pronoun*?
"le". Here is the answer to your question.
Yes, le is the French neutral pronoun (pronom neutre in French). It's an object pronoun whose main function is to refer to parts of a sentence other than a noun.
Le is considered neutral because it does not indicate the number or gender of the phrase, clause or sentence it is replacing.
You may ask, isn't le masculine, therefore, not neutral? Yes, you will be totally right to think so to some extent. But in French, the masculine gender is consider the default gender, and thus it passes for the neutral pronoun.
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Let's Pronounce It!
What does it sound like in French?
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Let's Have an Example or Two!
Can a little reinforcement do the trick?
Here are a few sentence examples that include a neutral pronoun -- For your convenience, we underline the parts of the sentence replaced the neutral pronoun (in bold).
- Je suis fatigué. Il le sont aussi. I am tired . They are (tired) too.
- Vos devoirs sont-ils faits? Oui, ils le sont. Is your homework done? Yes, it is.
- Etiez-vous en colère? Non, je ne l'étais pas.
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