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I’m an English teacher in Chile and independently studying French. I’m absolutely astounded by your enthusiasm and thoroughness in presenting these topics. Your videos are absolute gold. I really hope you NEVER get tired of hearing my sincerest “Thank you “ very much for your efforts.
I never get tired of comments like that :D I could never teach English (my native language) with this enthusiasm so I quit a few months in. You're doing such a necessary job over in Chile. Keep it up!
As a native French speaker it's always fascinating to me to listen to methods and strategies used by learners in order to navigate French grammar. I feel like Alex is doing a great job.
"Please say hello to the one who lives there For she once was a true love of mine..." Bob Dylan always was my favourite English teacher! (Dis bonjour à celle qui vit là-bas...) Another beautiful and inspiring video! Bravo Alex ! Quant à la prononciation abrégée de "celui-là", je dirais que dans la plupart des régions, le e et le l disparaissent, ce qui donne plutôt "çui-là". Finally, another use of celui-ci and celui-là would be a possible translation of "the latter" and "the former", in a more literary context.
You're welcome David. It's been rattling around my list of ideas for 5 years, so it takes a lot of time for the complex to be able to be simplified into a video. So glad that it helped!
You mentioned that in "celles" the s isn't pronounced. I would add the exception of the expression "celles et ceux" when talking about a groupe of males and females, or nouns of both genres. In that case there's is a massive *liaison* and the s is literally pronounced "celle-zé-ceux" ^^
Merci beaucoup pour cette vidéo, celle vraiment m'aidé. Les réponses aux questions: 1. Je veux de celui que t'as pris hier. 2. He writes to the one (feminine) that he met on holiday. 3. Dans cette phrase, « celle-ci » est près alors que « celle-là » est loin.
When you at the end mentioned that celui-là seems to be used more often than celui-ci, it reminds me of the adverb "là" which is almost always used in circumstances where in English you would say "here" (or "hier" in German), as in "je suis là" meaning "I am here". Am I right?
Kinda the same. "ici" is less used than "là" when both can be used in the same effect. I'm not sure in what circumstances it happened, but using "ici" or "ci" is a bit more formal. Nothing drastic, but if you can use both, "là" feels a bit less formal.
Fantastique, merci pour l'explication. 1. Je veux celui que tu avais hier. 2. He writes to the one (female) that he met on holiday. 3. Do you prefer this one or that one - je préfère celui-là merci 🤔
Thank you so much for this content. I'm travelling in a few months to Paris and your videos have given me confidence I can meddle through with my basic french.
Thank you for your video! It explained very clearly. I knew these pronouns for a long time and can understand them when encountered in the text, but still a bit confused about using them while writing or speaking. After your teaching, it became much easier.
hey I just want to say a big thank you for what you are doing! I'm currently learning French and I find your videos so useful, they helped me grasp a lot of concepts (the most major one being EN vs Y) and I'm grateful for that.
1. Je veux celui que vous avez eu hier. 2. He writes to the one that he met on holiday. 3. It's a singular, feminine noun. Which do you prefer, this one or that one. C'est intéressant, merci.
Merci beaucoup Monsieur, tres utile video. Mais, j'ai une question. A cet exemple: "Elle m'a parle de toutes ses plantes et de celles de son mari" ; why is it de celles de, and not "des" celles de? Thank you!
1-Je veux celui-là que tu as eu hier. 2- He's writing to the one (female) that he met on vacation. 3- The nouns are both of feminine gender and one is either spatially or temporally closer than the other.
I think most people in France (certainly in Paris) pronounce both "ce" and "ceux" as /sø/, at least most of the time. Dictionaries list /sə/ for "ce" but I don't recall hearing that in France (except possibly with some older speakers in rural areas). But québécois still makes the distinction, I'm pretty sure.
A Nancy, en Lorraine, dans le nord-est de la France, nous faisons bien la distinction entre /sə/ pour ce et /sø/ pour ceux. D'une manière générale, les Belges, les Suisses, les Français du Nord-Est et les Canadiens, sont plus conservateurs en matière de prononciation que les Parisiens ou les Français du Centre et de l'Ouest. De même, nous prononçons également un parfum [œ̃ paʁ.fœ̃] et non pas, comme à Paris [ɛ̃ paʁ.fɛ̃]. J'ai remarqué, quand je travaillais à Paris, étant plus jeune, que les natifs de la capitale étaient incapables de distinguer les deux phonèmes œ̃ et ɛ̃. Je leur faisais répéter pour rire un peu " il s'est mis plein de parfum" [plɛ̃ d paʁ.fœ̃] et ils disaient [plɛ̃ d paʁ.fɛ̃]. En tout cas, Alex est très pédago et je suis sûr que ses vidéos seront bien utiles à tous les anglophones désirant se perfectionner en français. Avant, je ne me rendais pas compte à quel point notre langue peut, parfois, être si subtile et compliquée pour les non-natifs.😀
Great video. Been curious about this and was relieved to have the deep dive. But at 12:30 I got quite confused. You mention about the -là vs -ci options and say the -là ones are more common. You attribute this to the fact that it's more common to talk about single units of things rather than multiples. But, we're not comparing celui-là/ci with ceux-là/ci (or celle-là/ci with celles-là/ci). It's not a difference of number, but of proximity. So where does the single/plural element come into all this for what you said? Also, would have been perfect to talk about the ici / là (here/there) meaning of the suffixes. That made it clear to me when I read it elsewhere and think you missed a trick there. Trying to learn French quickly and your videos make it so much more attainable :) Merci beaucoup.
Hey. I was simply saying that the variations with -là are more common. As for single v multiples, not sure what I meant, now that I listen back, haha. Good catch. If you're trying to learn French quickly, worrying about these fine details is something to stay away from. I couldn't help myself and it took me way longer. But, the upside is now I know the language in detail so I can teach it.
Good review for me. Would you (or did you) make a video about voici and voila? On some TV programs in French I have heard voila where I expected to hear voici.
No i haven't. I don't understand the nuances that well, but as with "-là" here, it's usually the one preferred in casual speech, even if "ci" makes more grammatical sense. "Je suis là !" = I am here / there. Very rare that someone says "ici" for that. So, I'd apply the same logic to your example.
They are closer to synonyms of "celui-ci", "celui-là" etc because they represent specific things. "Celui" and "celle" cannot exist on their own (as far as I know). However, I don't yet have the language to tell you the difference between cela, ceci & -ci, -là. Sorry. I'll have to let it rattle around my brain and spend more time in the language to distinguish the nuances.
Ok actually I can have a stab at it. Ceci is very rarely used though. I hear it in the bakery "avec ceci ?" to ask "anything else?" and I see it on formal signs, but very rarely in conversation. Cela is the formal form of "ça". "Ça" you wouldn't use when there's a choice between 2 things, in my experience.
Merci - celui-ci c’est formidable - exactement vraiment that which j’ai besoin de … no .. je de .. no .. j’en besoin … du coup anyway excellent video ciao
@@bamboolaceway When you write "Je voudrais celui-ci" it means that you are showing directly the object you want to get, "Je voudrais celui que j'ai eu hier" is less accurate so it means that you do not have this object in front of you. Celui-ci is used to insist on the fact that you see it, you can grab it easily because you and it are in the same place, same room, on present. You can use "celui-ci" ou "celle-ci" to talk about someone you're reminding to make understand that you pick up that person/object from past to present just like you had it/the person with you in the same room or place : "Il était magnifique celui-ci" It was magnificent this one ! talking about an object you saw in a shop/store and you considered to be very beautiful and you're trying to grab it on present time
do you are saying that you have to remove the l sound and pronounce it as sui la instead? that's already 2x more difficult!!! ;_;. but i could see why if they remove the l sound as it takes more time of putting your tongue placement on your roof of your mouth
