French Stressed Pronouns

French has three sets of personal pronouns, and the stressed set is the one that handles every job the other two cannot. They are also called disjunctive or tonic pronouns: "disjunctive" because they stand apart from the verb, "tonic" because they can carry stress. Wherever a pronoun has to survive without leaning on a verb, you reach for these.

The forms

Subject	Object (dir/indir)	Stressed	English
je	me	moi	me
tu	te	toi	you (sg)
il	le / lui	lui	him
elle	la / lui	elle	her
nous	nous	nous	us
vous	vous	vous	you (pl)
ils	les / leur	eux	them (m)
elles	les / leur	elles	them (f)

Nous, vous and elle / elles look the same across columns; moi, toi, lui, eux are the distinctive stressed forms to lock in.

When to use them

After a preposition

Any preposition - avec, sans, pour, chez, à côté de, devant - takes the stressed form.

Tu viens avec moi? (Are you coming with me?)
On va chez lui ce soir. (We're going to his place tonight.)
Je ne peux pas vivre sans eux. (I can't live without them.)

This is also how you express à + a person, where y is not allowed: je pense à elle (I think about her), il s'intéresse à eux (he's interested in them).

For emphasis (topicalisation)

French cannot stress a subject pronoun by saying it louder the way English does ("I think so"). Instead it props the sentence open with a stressed pronoun, then keeps the ordinary subject pronoun:

Moi, je pense que c'est faux. (Me, I think that's wrong.)
Lui, il ne comprend jamais. (Him, he never understands.)
Nous, on reste ici. (Us, we're staying here.)

After c'est and ce sont

To say "it's me / it's them", use c'est + stressed pronoun (and ce sont for eux / elles):

C'est moi. (It's me.)
C'est lui qui a gagné. (He's the one who won.)
Ce sont eux. (It's them.)

In comparisons

The second half of a comparison (after que) takes the stressed form:

Il est plus grand que toi. (He's taller than you.)
Je travaille autant qu'eux. (I work as much as them.)

Standing alone

A pronoun used by itself - as an answer, an exclamation, after ni... ni - must be stressed:

Qui veut venir? - Moi! (Who wants to come? Me!)
Ni lui ni elle. (Neither him nor her.)

With -même

Add -même(s) for the "-self" forms, with a hyphen and number agreement:

Je l'ai fait moi-même. (I did it myself.)
Ils ont tout construit eux-mêmes. (They built it all themselves.)

In compound subjects

When the subject is two people, list them as stressed pronouns and resume with a plural subject pronoun:

Lui et moi, nous partons demain. (He and I are leaving tomorrow.)
Toi et elle, vous êtes en retard. (You and she are late.)

The pairing rule: a group including moi resumes as nous; a group including toi (but not moi) resumes as vous.

Worked examples

C'est toi qui as raison. (You're the one who's right.)
Elle habite à côté de chez nous. (She lives next door to us.)
Eux, ils ne sont jamais d'accord. (Them, they never agree.)
Je compte sur toi. (I'm counting on you.)
Qui a cassé le vase? - Pas moi! (Who broke the vase? Not me.)
Nous, on va le faire nous-mêmes. (Us, we're going to do it ourselves.)

Common mistakes English speakers make

Using a subject pronoun after a preposition: avec je is wrong, it's avec moi. Using y or en for a person: "I think about him" is je pense à lui, not j'y pense. Reaching for the object form after c'est: it's c'est moi, never c'est me. And forgetting that emphasis needs the doubled structure - moi pense is wrong; you keep the subject pronoun too: moi, je pense.

Tu viens avec ? (with me) (1st person singular)
On va chez ce soir. (at his place) (him)
Je ne peux pas vivre sans . (without them, masc) (them, masculine)
C'est qui a gagné. (he's the one) (after c'est)
Il est plus grand que . (taller than you, sg) (after que in a comparison)
Je pense souvent à . (about her) (à + person uses the stressed form)
Qui veut venir? - ! (me, one-word answer) (standing alone)
, je reste ici. (us, emphasis) (emphasis, then the subject pronoun)
Je travaille autant qu'. (as much as them, masc) (after que, them masculine)

Translation drill

0/9

Translate into French, using the right stressed pronoun and the doubled structure where emphasis needs it.

It's me.
She works next door to us.
Me, I think that's wrong.
I did it myself.
He's the one who won.
I can't live without them.
He and I are leaving tomorrow.
Neither him nor her.
They did it all themselves.

Pick the right one

0/8

Pick the stressed pronoun, never the subject or object form.

C'est qui ai raison. (I'm the one who's right)
Tu viens avec ? (with me)
Il pense à . (about you, sg)
On va chez . (at his place)
Ce sont qui ont gagné. (them, masc)
Ni lui ni ne sont d'accord. (her, after ni)
Elle travaille à côté de chez . (us)
Il est plus grand que . (her)

Frequently asked questions

What are the French stressed pronouns?

Moi, toi, lui, elle, nous, vous, eux, elles. They correspond to je / tu / il / elle / nous / vous / ils / elles but are used when the pronoun stands apart from the verb: after prepositions (avec moi - with me, chez lui - at his place), after c'est (c'est moi - it's me), for emphasis (Moi, je pense que... - me, I think that...), in comparisons (plus grand que toi - taller than you) and as a one-word answer (Qui veut venir? Moi! - Who wants to come? Me!). Note nous and vous look identical to the subject and object forms; the rest are distinct.

What is the difference between subject, object and stressed pronouns in French?

Subject pronouns (je, tu, il, elle, nous, vous, ils, elles) do the verb: 'je parle'. Object pronouns (me, te, le, la, lui, nous, vous, les, leur) receive the verb and sit before it: 'je le vois'. Stressed pronouns (moi, toi, lui, elle, nous, vous, eux, elles) stand on their own, away from the verb - after a preposition, after c'est, alone, or for emphasis: 'avec moi', 'c'est lui', 'Moi!'. Same idea, three different forms depending on the job the pronoun is doing.

How do you say 'myself' and 'themselves' in French?

Add -même(s) to the stressed pronoun: moi-même (myself), toi-même (yourself), lui-même (himself), elle-même (herself), nous-mêmes (ourselves), vous-même(s) (yourself / yourselves), eux-mêmes (themselves, masc), elles-mêmes (themselves, fem). The hyphen is obligatory and même agrees in number: 'je l'ai fait moi-même' (I did it myself), 'ils l'ont construit eux-mêmes' (they built it themselves).