/ɛl/
Translation
they (feminine plural)
Word origin
The feminine plural of elle, from Latin illas ('those ones', feminine plural), from the demonstrative ille.
- Origin
- Latin
- Root
- illas
Examples
.
They arrived early and prepared the conference room.
? ' .
The two teachers? They are in a meeting until noon.
.
They ran into each other by chance in the same neighbourhood of the city.
.
They're arriving tomorrow morning on the first train.
, Bordeaux.
My cousins, they all live in Bordeaux.
est le pronom personnel sujet féminin pluriel. Il ne s'emploie que pour des groupes entièrement féminins ou composés uniquement de référents féminins. Un groupe mixte (hommes et femmes) prend ils selon la règle traditionnelle du masculin générique - règle en cours de révision dans certains contextes inclusifs.
Elles est aussi pronom tonique utilisé après les prépositions (avec elles, chez elles, pour elles) et dans les mises en relief (c'est elles qui ont décidé). La forme disjointée elles en position emphatique est plus courante en français parlé que dans d'autres langues romanes. La liaison est obligatoire en position sujet devant voyelle avec inversion.
Where this fits
Used in
Grammar articles
(24)avoir or être: Choosing the French Auxiliary in the Passé Composé
French Grammar Cheatsheet: The Essentials, One Page
French Adjectives and Nouns with à or de
French Conditionnel: Polite Requests, Hypothetical 'Would', and the Same Irregular Stems as the Future
The French Conditional Perfect: j'aurais fait, elle serait venue
Conjugating French -er Verbs in the Present Tense
Conjugating French -ir Verbs in the Present Tense
Conjugating French -re Verbs in the Present Tense
French Verb Conjugation: The Complete Rules with Examples
The French Future Perfect: futur antérieur
French Future Tense: Futur Proche, Futur Simple, and the Irregular Stems
French Imparfait: One Stem, One Set of Endings, One Irregular
French Irregular Verbs: The Core Set, the -ir Split and the Patterns That Repeat
French Object Pronouns: me, te, le, la, lui, nous, vous, leur and the Preverbal Position
French Passé Composé: avoir or être + Past Participle and the MRS VANDERTRAMP Set
The French Pluperfect (le plus-que-parfait): The Past Before the Past
French Possessive Pronouns: le mien, le tien, le sien, le nôtre, le vôtre, le leur
French Possessives: mon, ma, mes and the mon-Before-Vowel Trap
French Stressed Pronouns: moi, toi, lui, elle, nous, vous, eux, elles
French Subject Pronouns: je, tu, il, nous, vous, ils and the on That Replaced nous
The French Past Subjunctive: subjonctif passé
The French Present Subjunctive: How to Form It
Venir de + Infinitive: the French Recent Past (to have just done something)
French Word Order: SVO, the Object Pronoun Inversion, and Six Rules That Cover 90% of Sentences
Add to review queue
Track this word in your spaced-repetition queue and be tested on it at the right interval.
Go to my review queueFrench · Free printables
elles: worksheet, infographic and listicle
Free printable study downloads for the French word "elles" (they (feminine plural)): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.
Free for members
The printable worksheets, infographics and PDFs are free with an account. Start a free week and download as many as you like.
Start your free weekThis word is part of lesson 5.