What is an indefinite pronoun?
An indefinite pronoun is one of a small group of pronouns such as everything, nobody and something which are used to refer to people or things in a general way without saying exactly who or what they are.
- Here are the most common French indefinite pronouns:
- chacun (masculine singular)/chacune (feminine singular) each, everyone
| Nous avons chacun donné dix euros. | We each gave ten euros. |
| Chacun fait ce qu’il veut. | Everyone does what they like. |
| Toutes les villas ont chacune leur piscine. | Each villa has its own swimming pool. |
- personne nobody/no one, anybody/anyone
| Il n’y a personne à la maison. | There’s no one at home. |
| Elle ne veut voir personne. | She doesn’t want to see anybody. |
- Tip
You can use personne on its own to answer a question.Qui connaît la réponse? Personne. Who knows the answer? No one. If the sentence contains a verb you have to use ne with it.
| Personne n’est venu. | Nobody came. |
- quelque chose something, anything
| J’ai quelque chose pour toi. | I’ve got something for you. |
| Avez-vous quelque chose à déclarer? | Do you have anything to declare? |
- quelqu’un somebody/someone, anybody/anyone
| Il y a quelqu’un à la porte. | There’s someone at the door. |
| Quelqu’un a vu mon parapluie? | Has anybody seen my umbrella? |
- rien nothing, anything
| Elle n’a rien dit. | She didn’t say anything. |
| Rien n’a changé. | Nothing’s changed. |
- Tip
You can use rien on its own to answer a question.
If the sentence contains a verb you have to use ne with it.
| ‘Qu’est-ce tu as acheté?’ – ‘Rien.’ | ‘What did you buy?’ – ‘Nothing.’ |
| Il n’a rien mangé. | He’s eaten nothing. |
- tout everything
| Il organise tout. | He’s organizing everything. |
| Tout va bien? | Is everything OK? |
- tous (masculine plural)/toutes (feminine plural) all
| Je les connais tous. | I know them all. |
| Elles sont toutes arrivées? | Are they all here? |
- You can use quelque chose de/rien de and quelqu’un de/personne de with adjectives if you want to say nothing interesting, something new and so on.
| rien d’intéressant | nothing interesting |
Key points
- rien and personne can be used on their own to answer questions, but need to be used with ne when there is a verb in the sentence.
- quelque chose/rien and quelqu’un/personne can be followed by de + adjective.