Independent (Stress) Pronouns
Independent pronouns, listed in Table 1, may stand alone or follow a verb or a preposition. They are used to emphasize a fact and to highlight or replace nouns or pronouns.
Independent pronouns are used as follows:
To stress the subject: Moi, je suis vraiment indépendant. (Me, I'm really independent.)
When the pronoun has no verb: Qui veut partir? (Who wants to leave?) Moi. (Me.)
After prepositions to refer to a person or persons: Allons chez elle. (Let's go to her house.)
After c'est: C'est moi qui pars. (I'm leaving.)
After the following verbs:
- avoir affaire à (to have dealings with)
- être à (to belong to)
- faire attention à (to pay attention to)
- penser à (to think about [of)])
- se fier à (to trust)
- s'intéresser à (to be interested in)
- Ceci est à moi. (This belongs to me.)
In compound subjects:
- Lui et moi allons au restaurant. (He and I are going to the restaurant.)
- Sylvie et toi dînez chez Marie. (Sylvia and you are dining at Marie's.)
If moi is one of the stress pronouns in a compound subject, the subject pronoun nous is used in summary (someone + me = we) and the conjugated verb must agree with nous. If toi is one of the stress pronouns in a compound subject, the subject prounoun vous is used in summary (someone + you [singular] = you [plural]) and the conjugated verb must agree with the vous. Neither nous nor vous has to appear in the sentence.
With ‐ même(s) to reinforce the subject: Je suis allé au concert moi‐même. (I went to the concert by myself.)