gnash1192

[rugged oasis]

Please be patient

Our volunteers look into many questions every day; sometimes it takes them a little while to answer.

Pro tip: you can rename the thread title with `.tr <thread name>`

Make it descriptive, including relevant context, but also to the point. This way you improve your chances of getting a more relevant and specific answer.

[latent creek]

Not sure if that completely made sense but if it didn’t I can explain what I mean

[tired axle]

« t » there is the object pronoun « te » and you can put either tu or vous, it just depends on the formality

https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2F36r7d79xvf251.png

It's a humorous diagram but really accurate

Aside from that – since that chart talks about formality – tu/vous also matters in number. « tu » can only be one person whereas « vous » can either be 1 or more, so if I'm talking to a group of children, I'll use « vous » because I'm addressing more than 1 person

[latent creek]

right so the first part of tu or vous is the quantity of people you are talking to then the second is if you know them or if they are older

[tired axle]

essentially yes

[latent creek]

and you wouldn’t shorten tu or vous

[tired axle]

What do you mean by 'shorten'?

[latent creek]

so I assume t’ is short for te but when using tu you wouldn’t do the same

[tired axle]

oh yes

well

so « tu » is a subject pronoun like « tu as » and we normally wouldn't elide it, that's the term

but in colloquial/informal settings, it can happen where instead of « tu arrêtes, tu inventes » you see « t'arrêtes, t'inventes »

[latent creek]

alright

[tired axle]

that's because « u » doesn't elide

[latent creek]

Right and the te is just something used when using an object pronoun

[tired axle]

yup

Je te regarde, je t'aime

same also happens with le/la btw, just while we're on the topic

Je le regarde, je l'aime
Je la regarde, je l'aime

[latent creek]

and it can be used instead of la or le

or not?

[tired axle]

What do you mean?

What can be used instead?

[latent creek]

te

[tired axle]

oh yeah

it's just a different thing

te is for tu
le/la is for il/elle

I'm just adding le/la in case you see « je l'ai dit »

[latent creek]

ah

okay thank you

[grim vortex]

Possessives:
Je te explique=Je t’explique informal
Je vous explique formal

Je me explique = je m’explique
(Let me explain myself)

[tired axle]

Object pronouns, not possessives.