Lawless French News

Using Impersonal Expressions

lkl — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 14:00:18 +0000


	Share / Tweet / Pin Me!

Expressions impersonnelles

Grammatically, "impersonal" has nothing to do with feelings: it means invariable in regard to grammatical person. So impersonal expressions are those which use an impersonal subject: "it" in English, and il or ce in French. The meaning of the two French pronouns is identical in impersonal expressions, but ce is a bit informal and therefore more common when speaking, whereas il is more common in writing. Otherwise, they are interchangeable.*

Impersonal expressions are used in three types of constructions.

1) Il est / C’est + adjective + que + subordinate clause

In this construction, the only thing you need to worry about is whether the verb in the subordinate clause needs to be in the indicative or subjunctive.

Par exemple…

Il est évident que les fleurs sont artificielles. C’est évident que les fleurs sont artificielles.		It’s obvious that the flowers are fake.
Il est étonnant que tu aies raison. C’est étonnant que tu aies raison.		It’s amazing that you’re right.

2) Il est / C’est + adjective + preposition + infinitive

Il est and c’est are still interchangeable, but the preposition required – à or de – depends on whether il / ce is a real subject or a dummy subject.

When il or ce is a real subject, meaning that it refers to a previously mentioned noun, you need the preposition à.

Par exemple…

Il est facile à comprendre. C’est facile à comprendre.		That’s easy to understand. (what you just said is easy to understand)
Il est impossible à trouver. C’est impossible à trouver.		It’s impossible to find. (the restaurant I just mentioned is impossible to find)

Note that when dealing with a real subject that is feminine, il changes to elle.

Par exemple…

Elle est impossible à trouver.
C’est impossible à trouver.

It’s impossible to find.
(the house I just mentioned is impossible to find)

When il or ce is a dummy subject standing in for the verb that comes after, you need the preposition de.

Par exemple…

Il est important d’étudier. C’est important d’étudier.		It’s important to study. (Studying is important.)
Il est logique de craindre la mort. C’est logique de craindre la mort.		It’s logical to be afraid of death. (Being afraid of death is logical.)

3) C’est + adjective

Of course you can also use impersonal expressions on their own, in response to something. In this case, c’est is the correct version to use.

Par exemple…

Tu dois travailler, c’est essentiel.		You have to work, it’s essential.
– Il va partir à midi ? – C’est exact.		– He’s going to leave at noon? – That’s right.

Page 1: Using impersonal expressions
Page 2: List of impersonal expressions

* C’est and il est are interchangeable only in impersonal expressions. For other uses, see C’est vs il est.

Related lessons

Share / Tweet / Pin Me!

French proficiency test by

Published on Lawless French

Faire à fond

lkl — Sun, 19 Apr 2026 14:10:01 +0000

French proficiency test by

Published on Lawless French

Moi non plus

lkl — Fri, 17 Apr 2026 14:00:33 +0000


	Share / Tweet / Pin Me!

Essential French Expression

Meaning	neither do I, me neither, me either
Literally	me no more
Register	normal
Pronunciation		[mwah no(n) plu]
IPA		[mwa nɔ̃ ply]

Usage notes: Moi non plus is the opposite of moi aussi. They both agree with what someone just said, but moi aussi (me too) agrees with an affirmative statement, while moi non plus (me neither) agrees with a negative statement.

Par exemple…

– Je n’aime ce film. – Moi non plus.		– I don’t like this movie. – Me neither.
– Je n’aime pas ce livre. – Moi non plus.		– I don’t like this book. – Neither do I.

The stressed pronoun moi can be replaced with any other stressed pronoun to indicate another person’s agreement with a negative statement.

toi non plus		neither do you, you either
lui non plus		neither does he, him either
elle non plus		neither does she, her either
nous non plus		neither do we, us either
vous non plus		neither do you, you either
eux non plus		neither do they, them either
elles non plus		neither do they, them either

Par exemple…

– Il n’aime pas ce film. – Nous non plus.		– He doesn’t like this movie. – Neither do we.
– Elle n’aime pas ce livre. – Eux non plus.		– She doesn’t like this book. – Them either.

The stressed pronoun can also be replaced with a noun or name:

le conducteur non plus		neither does the driver, the driver doesn’t either
mes enfants non plus		neither do my kids, my kids don’t either
Claire non plus		neither does Claire, Claire doesn’t either
Jean et Marc non plus		neither do Jean and Marc, Jean and Marc don’t either

Par exemple…

– Leur filles n’aiment pas ce jeu. – Mon fils non plus.		– Their daughters don’t like this game. – Neither does my son.
– Je ne veux pas y aller. – Isabelle non plus.		– I don’t want to go. – Neither does Isabelle.

Non plus can be used as a standalone response:

– Je ne veux pas y aller.
– Et Thomas ?
– Non plus.

– I don’t want to go.
– And Thomas? What about Thomas?
– Him either (he doesn’t want to go either).

Or as a negative adverb (with ne … pas) to make a negative statement:

Nous n’aimons pas ce jeu non plus.		We don’t like this game either.
Il ne veut pas y aller non plus.		He doesn’t want to go either.

Je t’aime, moi non plus

Serge Gainsbourg’s odd song title was inspired by a Salvador Dalí comment: “Picasso est espagnol, moi aussi. Picasso est un génie, moi aussi. Picasso est communiste, moi non plus.”

Related lessons

Share / Tweet / Pin Me!

French proficiency test by

Published on Lawless French

Faire Quiz: Aider à la maison

lkl — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 14:00:01 +0000

French proficiency test by

Published on Lawless French

Independent Study

lkl — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 14:00:39 +0000


	Share / Tweet / Pin Me!

Apprentissage indépendant

As much as I’d love to offer a one-stop-shop for learning and practicing every aspect of French, I’m only one person. Therefore, I make a point of seeking out high-quality, third-party resources that supplement my work so that you can learn independently as efficiently as possible.

French Grammar

Lawless French has hundreds of grammar lessons and 1,600+ verb conjugation tables – plus of course the Subjunctivisor and Pronommeur – but reading a lesson is one thing and putting it into practice is another. Fortunately, I found the perfect complement.

Progress with Lawless French is a grammar quiz-based site that will help you figure out what you know and don’t know, then focus on helping you fill in gaps and improve your French grammar on a daily basis.

French Vocabulary

Unlike grammar, which has finite (though extensive) rules, vocabulary is essentially endless. To supplement my mots du jour, vocabulary lessons, and expressions, I recommend this very interesting proposition:

LingQ

Rather than vocab lists, it provides authentic content with new vocabulary highlighted for you. You can remove the highlights for words you know, and for the ones you don’t, you just click to learn what they mean so that they show up in future texts.

MiVoca

This is another app to help you collect, practice, and remember all your vocabulary, with audio. It can even create dialogues and stories using your vocabulary, to help you practice and learn in context.

Also, reading the news is an excellent way to acquire new vocabulary while keeping up with events.

French Pronunciation

Since I’m not a native speaker of French, I provide pronunciation lessons but limited sound files.

The best resource I’ve ever found is Diane Dansereau’s Savoir Dire. It’s an absurdly expensive book + online sound files bundle, but short of taking private classes with a French tutor who specializes in accent reduction, using it regularly is just about the best thing you can do to greatly improve your French pronunciation. It includes in-depth analyses of each French letter and sound with corresponding listening exercises; a comparison of American English and French sounds; and explanations of French rhythm, silent letter patterns, and much more. You can find it at Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.

French Listening and Reading

I make listening comprehension exercises out of various videos and audio files and reading comprehension exercises from book excerpts and my own experiences in France. For more variety, check out these resources.

Yabla French

To work on your French listening comprehension, try Yabla, a subscription site with a massive collection of original videos featuring native speakers and – best of all – dictée exercises.

French Conversation

Again, not being a native speaker, I don’t offer conversation lessons, so here’s a database of French tutors. You and your tutor can work out exactly what you want to practice and need the most help with.

You might also like to try an AI chatbot – available 24/7 and can talk about anything under the sun!

And here are some more resources and tips for speaking French:

French speaking practice – where to find people
Solo speaking practice – what to do when you can’t
French speaking tips – how to get better

Related features

Share / Tweet / Pin Me!

French proficiency test by

Published on Lawless French

Avoiding Inversion

lkl — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 14:00:33 +0000


	Share / Tweet / Pin Me!

Éviter l’inversion

Inversion is an essential verbal structure, but because it’s formal, it can make your French sound overly fussy. So outside of formal situations like job interviews and journalism, you need to know your options. Here are the most common ways to use inversion and grammatically correct ways to avoid it.

Questions

Using inversion in questions is elegant and perfect for formal situations. But outside of those sorts of contexts, it sounds stilted, so it’s important to know other ways to ask questions.

The most common way to ask questions is with est-ce que, which is normal register and therefore never wrong. In informal situations, you have a number of other options.

Par example…

Êtes-vous prêts ?		Are you ready?
Est-ce que vous êtes prêts ?
Vous êtes prêts ?

Direct speech

The standard way to report what someone said is with "incidental clause inversion." You can avoid this by adding a meaningless relative pronoun que in front of the subject/verb instead.

Par exemple…

« Mange ton dîner » insiste-t-il. « Mange ton dîner » qu’il insiste.		"Eat your dinner," he insists.
« J’ai fait mes devoirs » m’a-t-elle dit. « J’ai fait mes devoirs » qu’elle m’a dit.		"I did my homework," she said.

Combien | Peut-être | Sans doute

When these phrases are at the beginning of a clause, they must be followed by inversion (for formal situations) or else the word que.

Par exemple…

Combien de temps que j’ai gaspillé.		I’ve wasted so much time.
Peut-être que tu as raison.		Maybe you’re right.
Sans doute qu’elle va y réussir.		Of course she’ll succeed.

For more details, see "Optional inversion" at the end of the inversion lesson.

Related lessons

Share / Tweet / Pin Me!

French proficiency test by

Published on Lawless French

Simone, la voix de la SNCF

lkl — Mon, 13 Apr 2026 14:00:39 +0000

French listening practice with side-by-side translation

Listening comprehension: See the links at the bottom for lessons related to the phrases in italics.

Simone, la voix de la SNCF	Simone, the voice of SNCF
Si j’allais chez le Boucher et que je disais « Monsieur le Boucher, votre attention s’il vous plaît, voulez-vous avoir la gentillesse de me donner un steak haché ? Merci de votre attention. » Là, je pense qu’il me reconnaîtrait.	Translation If I went to the butcher’s and said, "Mr. Butcher, may I have a moment of your time? Would you be so kind as to give me a hamburger patty? Thank you for your time." I think he’d recognize me then. [collapse]
Après une école de secrétariat de direction, FIP, cette superbe radio, recrutait une animatrice supplémentaire. J’ai réussi mon audition. En 1981, la SNCF doit renouveler ses voix. Qu’est-ce qu’elle se dit ? Elle se dit, je vais appeler France Inter.	Translation After finishing a course in executive secretarial studies, FIP—that wonderful radio station—was looking to hire an additional host. I passed my audition. In 1981, SNCF needed to update its voice talent. What did they think? They thought, "I’ll call France Inter." [collapse]
Ils ont de très belles voix, France Inter. Qu’est-ce qui se passe ? Erreur d’aiguillage, on passe le standard de FIP au lieu du standard de France Inter. Et nous voilà partis 4, 5 FIPettes, puisque c’est comme ça qu’on nous appelait. On va passer une audition à la SNCF et je suis prise avec une de mes camarades de FIP. On a été deux pendant un petit nombre d’années. On faisait, à l’époque, des annonces dans leur globalité et on y passait environ un mois, un mois et demi, à deux, à faire tout ça.	Translation They have such beautiful voices at France Inter. What happened? A misdial—they were connected to the FIP switchboard instead of the France Inter switchboard. And off we went, four or five of us "FIPettes," since that’s what they called us. We went to an audition at SNCF, and I was hired along with one of my FIP colleagues. There were two of us for a few years. Back then, we did the announcements in their entirety, and it took us about a month, a month and a half, working together, to do all that. [collapse]
L’ordinateur est arrivé dans les années 90. On a commencé à fragmenter les phrases et à prendre des petits bouts. Et donc, il a fallu plus qu’une seule voix. Et là aussi, j’ai encore eu la chance d’avoir été plébiscitée. Alors, ma voix, elle n’a rien d’extraordinaire. Et tant mieux, parce que j’aurais eu une voix un petit peu trop spécifique, un peu trop originale, les gens auraient pu se lasser. Alors, une bonne voix aussi, c’est une voix, et la mienne a ses qualités techniques là, je n’y suis pour rien, c’est une voix qui peut passer, justement, dans un univers sonore difficile. Donc, il y a des fréquences qui font qu’elle passe bien dans le brouhaha.	Translation Computers came along in the ’90s. We started breaking up the sentences and recording short snippets. So, we needed more than just one voice. And there, too, I was lucky enough to be chosen. My voice isn’t anything extraordinary. And that’s a good thing, because if it had been a little too distinctive, a little too unique, people might have gotten tired of it. So, a good voice is still just a voice, and mine has certain technical qualities—it’s nothing to do with me—that allow it to cut through even in a challenging soundscape. There are certain frequencies that make it cut through the noise. [collapse]
Non, honnêtement, quand je me promène ou que je parle avec des gens qui ne me connaissent pas, non, ils ne peuvent pas reconnaître la voix, parce qu’à la SNCF, ma voix, elle est intimement liée au vocabulaire. Non, la SNCF ne m’offre pas le train, je paye mes billets. Je n’ai pas le statut de cheminot, puisque je suis engagée comme comédienne au cachet par la SNCF, et que le fait d’avoir le train gratuit, c’est quelque chose qui fait partie du salaire des cheminots.	Translation No, honestly, when I’m out and about or talking to people who don’t know me, no, they can’t recognize my voice, because at SNCF, my voice is closely tied to the vocabulary. No, SNCF doesn’t give me free train rides; I pay for my tickets. I don’t have railway employee status, since I’m hired as a freelance actress by SNCF, and free train travel is part of railway employees’ compensation. [collapse]
Franchement, dans huit téléfilms sur dix, quand il y a une gare, on m’entend. Mais là, c’est parce que la SNCF, quand elle loue, quand elle met à disposition ses espaces, je suis comprise dans le packaging. Voilà, donc la voix de la SNCF, ça fait vrai dans un téléfilm, et moi, je ne touche pas de droit d’auteur, mais je suis dédommagée aussi pour ça, d’une manière forfaitaire.	Translation Honestly, in eight out of 10 TV movies, whenever there’s a train station, you can hear me. But in this case, it’s because when SNCF rents out or makes its spaces available, I’m included in the package. So, the voice of SNCF sounds authentic in a TV movie, and while I don’t receive royalties, I’m compensated for it as well, on a flat-rate basis. [collapse]
Quand quelqu’un veut faire plaisir à un cheminot qui part à la retraite, souvent, il m’appelle, m’envoie un message, et me dit, est-ce que vous pourriez, Simone, faire un petit message pour mon père, ou mon collègue qui part à la retraite, mais également pour les gens qui se sont rencontrés dans un train. Et ça, c’est génial, les belles histoires d’amour comme ça. Alors ça, j’adore faire ça, j’adore.	Translation When someone wants to do something nice for a railway worker who’s retiring, they often call me or send me a message and say, "Simone, could you record a little message for my dad, or my colleague who’s retiring" or even for people who met on a train. And that’s wonderful—beautiful love stories like that. So I love doing that, I really do. [collapse]
C’est une grande fierté, ça fait 40 ans que je travaille pour la SNCF. Un jour, le service de la communication avait dit que c’était à peu près réaliste qu’on avait entendu, pas enregistré, entendu au moins un milliard d’annonces, parce que c’est tous les jours plusieurs annonces par train dans toutes les gares. Donc évidemment, il y a quoi, 3 000, un peu plus de 3 000 gares en France ? Oui, ça fait pas mal d’heures d’enregistrement au compteur.	Translation It’s a source of great pride—I’ve been working for SNCF for 40 years. One day, the communications department said it was a fair estimate that people have heard—not recorded, but heard—at least a billion announcements, because there are several announcements per train every day at every station. So obviously, there are what, 3,000—a little over 3,000 stations in France? Yeah, that adds up to quite a few hours of recording time. [collapse]
Bon, il y a toujours des choses nouvelles à enregistrer, mais il y avait tous les noms de ville, tous les horaires. Et aujourd’hui, j’y vais en gros une fois par mois. Et en ce moment, ce sont des petits morceaux qui sont informatiquement recollés et qui forment une phrase.	Translation Well, there are always new things to record, but there were all the city names, all the schedules. And today, I go there roughly once a month. And right now, these are little snippets that are digitally pieced together to form a sentence. [collapse]
« Le train 10941, en provenance de Paris-Gare de Lyon, partira voie 3. » Là, vous avez même le chiffre qui est décomposé. Voilà, donc il faut, moi, quand j’ai enregistré tous ces petits morceaux, il fallait que dans la tête, j’aie la continuité. Donc ça, c’est une phrase concaténée.	Translation "Train 10941, arriving from Paris-Gare de Lyon, will depart from Track 3." Here, you can even see the number broken down. So, when I recorded all these little segments, I had to keep the flow in my head. So this is a concatenated sentence. [collapse]
La voix de synthèse, c’est fait à partir de phonèmes. Alors, les phonèmes, ce n’est même pas les syllabes, c’est des tout petits sons. Ça peut être « Voilà ». Et après, assemblée, c’est très, très compliqué à faire. Ça reproduit la voix et la mienne, elle est assez bluffante. Ils s’en servent déjà en urgence, quand ils ont vraiment besoin d’une annonce, qu’il n’y a personne pour la faire et tout.	Translation The synthesized voice is made up of phonemes. So, phonemes aren’t even syllables—they’re tiny sounds. It could be “Here you go.” And then, putting it all together is very, very complicated. It reproduces the voice, and mine is pretty impressive. They’re already using it in emergencies, when they really need an announcement and there’s no one around to make it. [collapse]
Mais je me dis que si je tombe dans la rue et j’y passe en sortant du studio, ils peuvent continuer à me faire parler. C’est génial ! Prenez le train des vacances et amusez-vous bien. Au revoir !	Translation But I figure that if I collapse on the street on my way out of the studio, they can keep making me talk. It’s great! Take the vacation train and have fun. Bye! [collapse]
Video courtesy of Konbini.	Translation by LKL

Listening comprehension

Expressions

Vocabulary

Grammar

j’allais, je disais – imperfect
voulez-vous … me donner – indirect object
il me reconnaîtrait, on nous appelait – direct object
il me reconnaîtrait – conditional
J’ai réussi, On a été – passé composé
elle se dit, je me promène – pronominal verbs
je suis prise, elle est intimement liée – passive voice
on y passait – adverbial pronoun y
L’ordinateur est arrivé – être verb in the passé composé
avoir été plébiscitée – past infinitive in the passive voice
j’aurais eu, les gens auraient pu – past conditional
se lasser – pronominal verb in the infinitive
la mienne – possessive pronoun
les gens qui se sont rencontrés – pronominal verb in the passé composé
le service … avait dit, on avait entendu – past perfect
Le train … partira – future
il fallait que dans la tête, j’aie – subjunctive
Ils s’en servent – adverbial pronoun en
continuer à me faire parler – causative construction in the infinitive
Prenez – imperative
amusez-vous – pronominal verb in the imperative

Share / Tweet / Pin Me!

French proficiency test by

Published on Lawless French

Chercher midi à 14 heures

lkl — Fri, 10 Apr 2026 14:00:47 +0000


	Share / Tweet / Pin Me!

French Expression

Meaning	to complicate things, make something more complicated
Literally	to look for noon at 2 pm
Register	normal
Pronunciation		[sher shay mi di ah kah tor zeur]
IPA		[ʃɛʁ ʃe mi di a ka tɔʁ zœʁ]

Usage notes: When you’re complicating things, you’re looking for noon at 2pm, according to the French idiom chercher midi à quatorze heures.

Par exemple…

Il n’y a plus de travail à faire, ne cherche pas midi à quatorze heures.		There’s no more work to do, don’t make things more complicated.
Ah, tu cherches toujours midi à quatorze heures !		Ah, you’re always complicating things!

It’s kind of an odd expression if you think about it, since finding a time that has already come and gone isn’t just difficult – it’s literally impossible. Fun with idioms!

Humorous variation: chercher midi à douze heures – to look for noon at twelve o’clock

Somewhat synonymous

chercher des poux – to quibble
compliquer les choses – to complicate matters
couper les cheveux en quatre – to split hairs
(se) faire une montagne d’une taupinière – to make a mountain out of a molehill

Related lessons

Share / Tweet / Pin Me!

French proficiency test by

Published on Lawless French