You’ve probably come across the word on in French many times. It’s a very versatile word, but this means that it can be challenging to fully understand its meaning at times. In fact, a regular question we receive from our Coffee Break community of language learners is: what does on mean in French?
The Coffee Break French Show is a podcast series of bite-sized, friendly conversations in which we explain tricky French language topics. In the latest episode, Max and Mark discuss the use of the on pronoun in French in everyday contexts.
Continue reading to find out more, and why not listen to the podcast as you go? Plus, don’t miss our free worksheet at the end to practise what you learn!
French subject pronouns
First things first, let’s do a quick review of the French subject pronouns.
Typically, when you’re looking at a verb table or practising conjugations in French, the verb is divided up into its six forms, with the subject pronouns listed as follows:
je – “I”
tu – “you” (informal singular)
il, elle, on – “he, she, one/you/we”
nous – “we”
vous – “you” (formal singular or informal/formal plural)
ils, elles – “they”
As we look into the uses of on, remember that it is included on the same line as il and elle because it uses the same form of the conjugated verb. So, when conjugating verbs with on, you treat it like you would il or elle (for example, on mange or on parle).
The key thing to remember here is that the third line – il, elle, on – does not translate to “he, she, it”. The subject pronoun on can be translated in various ways, but it doesn’t mean “it”.
What does ‘on’ mean in French?
After this brief recap, the question remains: what does on mean in French? In fact, the versatile pronoun on has three main uses and meanings.
Let’s look at them below!
When ‘on’ means “we”
In informal settings, on is very often used instead of the subject pronoun nous. In these situations, on therefore simply means “we”.
On is less formal than nous and more commonly used in spoken French. For example, at the start of this podcast episode, Mark asked Max:
De quoi parle-t-on aujourd’hui ?
What are we talking about today?
It would have been equally correct to use nous and say:
De quoi parlons-nous aujourd’hui ?
What are we talking about today?
This sounds much more formal to a native French speaker. In standard, written French, however, remember to use nous instead of on.
Let’s look at some more examples where on is used instead of nous to mean “we”.
Si tu veux, on peut déjeuner ensemble.
If you want, we can have lunch together.
On va au ciné samedi ?
Shall we go to the cinema on Saturday?
On se voit demain soir ?
Shall we see each other tomorrow evening?
In this example, note that the reflexive pronoun used (se) matches the third person singular form of the verb. Using the nous form instead, this sentence would be:
Nous nous voyons demain soir ?
Shall we see each other tomorrow evening?
When ‘on’ refers to people in general
The second use of the French pronoun on is to refer to everyone. That is to say that on can be used to make generalisations about what groups of people do.
In this sense, on can be compared to “one” in English. However, although “one” is rarely used outside very formal situations in English, on is completely neutral and natural in French.
Let’s look at some examples and notice how on can be translated in various ways when it refers to people in general.
En France, on mange beaucoup de fromage.
In France, people eat a lot of cheese.
En Italie, on parle italien.
In Italy, everyone speaks Italian.
En Écosse, on doit s’habituer à la pluie.
In Scotland, you have to get used to the rain.
As a side note, notice that in all of these statements we are using the preposition en with the name of each country. If prepositions with cities and countries is something that you’re looking for more help with, we have another episode of The Coffee Break French Show all about this topic.
We’ve therefore seen how on can refer to “we” or to people in general. However, there is a third use of the pronoun on in French, so let’s look at this one now.
When ‘on’ refers to an unidentified person
The third use of this subject pronoun in French is when it refers to an unidentified or unspecified person. So, what does on mean in French in these contexts? Well, in this scenario, on is like saying “someone” in English.
Consider these examples:
On a frappé à la porte.
Someone knocked at the door. / There was a knock at the door.
On m’a volé mon portefeuille.
Someone stole my wallet. / My wallet was stolen.
This is just like saying:
Quelqu’un m’a volé mon portefeuille.
Someone stole my wallet.
In the sentences above, since the identity of the subject is unknown, we can use on in French.
On nous* a demandé de sortir.
We were asked to leave. / They asked us to leave.
On nous* a dit que le musée était fermé aujourd’hui.
We were told that the museum is closed today. / They told us that the museum is closed today.
In these two examples, it is likely that the identity of the person or people is known, but it isn’t important to the conversation, which is why on is used.
*Watch out for the nous in these examples. This isn’t to be confused with the subject pronoun nous. Instead, this nous is an indirect object pronoun, indicating that it was “us” that they asked to leave.
That’s it for the three uses of the pronoun on in French. Before we finish, let’s focus on one final aspect of this interesting pronoun.
Using possessive adjectives with ‘on’
We’ve now answered our main question: what does on mean in French? But there are still a couple of interesting points to consider.
Earlier, we saw that when on is used with a reflexive verb, it uses the third person singular reflexive pronoun se. For example:
En Écosse, on doit s’habituer à la pluie.
In Scotland, you have to get used to the rain.
However, there is another interesting aspect of agreement when using on, which we need to keep in mind, and that is with possessive adjectives.
Let’s start by looking at the following question using the subject pronoun nous:
Est-ce que nous avons fait nos valises ?
Have we packed our suitcases?
If we replace nous with on, something interesting happens!
Est-ce qu’on a fait nos valises ?
Have we packed our suitcases?
Did you expect nos to change to ses? In fact, because the possessive adjective means “our” here, we still use the adjective associated with nous (notre in the singular or nos in the plural), in order to follow the same meaning.
However, there are other situations in which we would use the possessive adjective son, sa or ses with on. For example:
On doit prendre son passeport pour voyager.
One must take one’s passport to travel. / You must take your passport to travel.
In this situation, since on refers to people in general, rather than “us”, the correct possessive adjective to use is son, instead of notre.
So, when on means “we”, use the possessive adjective notre or nos. When on means “everyone”, “one” or a general “you”, use the possessive adjective son, sa or ses.
A summary of what ‘on’ means in French and when to use it
The pronoun on is very commonly used in French, so we hope that you now understand when and why it is used, and that you feel you know how to incorporate it into your own speaking.
Don’t forget to listen to the full episode about the pronoun on with Max and Mark on The Coffee Break French Show. For more episodes for French learners, you can subscribe to our podcast feed and our channel on YouTube.
As well as this, we regularly send free email lessons that will help you improve your French. Sign up below to receive the next free lesson straight to your inbox, and we hope that you enjoy it.
Happy Coffee Breaking!
