On: a little word with a big role in French
One might, at first glance, think the French on is a straight translation of 鈥渙ne鈥� in English. But on is much more widely used, generally less formal and much more versatile.
So versatile, in fact, that it can (in theory) be used to replace any of the other French pronouns: I/we, you, he/she/it or they.
On y va? The most frequent use of on is as a straight swap for nous in speech. For beginners, on can come to your rescue if you cannot remember how to conjugate a particular verb with nous. However, in writing, you still need to remember to put agreements on the end of words 鈥� for example, on est jeunes (we are young, with a plural S).
On is also commonly used to refer to persons unknown 鈥� on nous a oblig茅 脿鈥� we had to do something 鈥� and where a passive would be used in English: on dit que (it is said that). You might even see it as an instruction on signs: On est pri茅 de fermer la porte 鈥� please shut the door 鈥� or even in recipe books: On ajoute le bouillon. Add in the stock.
Less commonly, it can be used to replace tu or vous 鈥� although it can sound pejorative: On a oubli茅 quelque chose? Has a certain someone (you) forgotten something? A wedding anniversary, perhaps.
Even rarer is on to mean I, as in 鈥渙ne is not amused鈥�, which sounds vain 鈥� but can in some cases be interpreted as a form of modesty. 鈥淐omme on vous aime鈥� could be a more subtle I-love-you. Academics sometimes use the on (or nous) 鈥榙e modestie鈥� to add some distance to their findings and avoid talking about themselves.
For phonetic reasons, on is sometimes preceded by l鈥� to make an easier liaison with words such as et, si and ou. 鈥淪i l鈥檕n est en avance, on fera une pause鈥� (if we鈥檙e early we鈥檒l stop somewhere).
One way or another, one will find on to be a very useful tool to have when one is speaking French.
