*Eux* seuls sont venus - why this is correct and not - Ils seuls sont venus
Why 'eux' n not 'ils'?
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Maithilee D.Kwiziq community member
Why 'eux' n not 'ils'?
This question relates to:French lesson "Nous/vous/eux/elles = Us/you/them - simple cases (French Stress Pronouns)"
Asked 8 months ago
Salut Maithilee,
The simple answer to your query "Why not Ils seuls sont venus ?" is that the lesson is about stress pronouns and "ils" is not a stress pronoun it is a subject pronoun.
The appropriate stress pronoun for "ils" is "eux" "They are the only ones who came" or "they alone came"
Hope this helps.
Bonne continuation
Jim
Chris W. Kwiziq Q&A super contributor
Jim's right, eux is the stress pronoun of the 3rd person plural (ils).
Ils sont venus seuls. They came alone. No stress pronoun needed since it's a simple and neutral statement.
Eux seuls sont venus. -- They alone came. Here the stress is on who really came, hence the stress pronoun. The clue is the placement of the adjective seuls.
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