Usage note : you

In English you is used to address everybody, whereas French has two forms : tu and vous. The usual word to use when you are speaking to anyone you do not know very well is vous. This is sometimes called the polite form and is used for the subject, object, indirect object and emphatic pronoun :

would you like some coffee?

= voulez-vous du café?

can I help you?

= est-ce que je peux vous aider?

what can I do for you?

= qu’est-ce que je peux faire pour vous?

The more informal pronoun tu is used between close friends and family members, within groups of children and young people, by adults when talking to children and always when talking to animals ; tu is the subject form, the direct and indirect object form is te (t’ before a vowel) and the form for emphatic use or use after a preposition is toi :

would you like some coffee?

= veux-tu du café?

can I help you?

= est-ce que je peux t’aider?

there’s a letter for you

= il y a une lettre pour toi

As a general rule, when talking to a French person use vous, wait to see how they address you and follow suit. It is safer to wait for the French person to suggest using tu. The suggestion will usually be phrased as on se tutoie? or on peut se tutoyer?

Note that tu is only a singular pronoun and vous is the plural form of tu.

Remember that in French the object and indirect object pronouns are always placed before the verb :

she knows you

= elle vous connaît or elle te connaît

In compound tenses like the present perfect and the past perfect, the past participle agrees in number and gender with the direct object :

I saw you on Saturday

(to one male : polite form)

= je vous ai vu samedi

(to one female : polite form)

= je vous ai vue samedi

(to one male : informal form)

= je t’ai vu samedi

(to one female : informal form)

= je t’ai vue samedi

(to two or more people, male or mixed)

= je vous ai vus samedi

(to two or more females)

= je vous ai vues samedi

When you is used impersonally as the more informal form of one, it is translated by on for the subject form and by vous or te for the object form, depending on whether the comment is being made amongst friends or in a more formal context :

you can do as you like here

= on peut faire ce qu’on veut ici

these mushrooms can make you ill

= ces champignons peuvent vous rendre malade or ces champignons peuvent te rendre malade

you could easily lose your bag here

= on pourrait facilement perdre son sac ici

Note that your used with on is translated by son/sa/ses according to the gender and number of the noun that follows.

For verb forms with vous, tu and on see the French verb tables.

For particular usages see the entry you.

Big English-French dictionary. 2003.