[Originally posted on 08/06/14 on the Duolingo French for English speakers forum by Remy]
You have to use “c’est” when there is an article (une, un, le, la, or l’), a possessive (mon/ton/son, ma/ta/sa, notre/votre/leur) before the noun, or before a possessive pronoun (le nôtre/le vôtre/le leur/la nôtre/la vôtre/la leur).
- Ex: You have to say “C’est mon garçon. C’est le mien”, NOT: “Il est mon garçon. Il est le mien.”
- Note: you can use “Il est” before an adjective (ex: “Il est riche.” = “He is rich.”), before a noun of occupation with no article (ex: “Il est avocat.” = “He is a lawyer.”), or before an adverb (ex: “Il est tard.” = “It is late.”).
- The same rules apply for the feminine singular pronoun “elle” (except for the adverb case).
You have to use “ce sont” when there is an article (des or les), a possessive (mes/tes/ses, nos/vos/leurs) before the noun, or before a possessive pronoun (les nôtres/les vôtres/les leurs).
- ex: You have to say “Ce sont nos garçons. Ce sont les nôtres”, NOT: “Ils sont nos garçons. Ils sont les nôtres.”
- Note: you can use “Ils sont” before an adjective (ex: “Ils sont riches.” = “They are rich.”), or before a noun of occupation with no article (ex: “Ils sont avocats.” = “They are lawyers.”).
- The same rules apply for the feminine plural pronoun “elles”.
Selected comments on original post
Just to be clear, we can substitute “c’est avocat” → “il est avocat”?
Also I think that the section of the course that needs most attention is probably the part dealing with prepositions. The one’s I’ve seen seen the most are arguments over :
- À, au;
- aux vs en;
- dans vs sur
- en vs dans vs sur; and
- pour vs par vs à.
To name a few.
I thought as much, but a Google search uncovered 3 million instances of a direct quote “c’est avocat”, and 23 million instances of “c’est professeur”. So a lot of L1/L2 speakers must make this mistake.
Good to know!
Just a thought… might it be that many of those instances of « c’est professeur » are cases where “professeur” is used as a title, to be immediately followed by the professor’s name?
Remy [contributor]
No, you can’t say “C’est professeur Dubois”. You should say: “C’est le professeur Dubois”.
“The same rules apply for the feminine singular pronoun “elle” (except for the adverb case).” – what do you mean by “except for the adverb case”?
Duolinguists 