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eux

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: -eux

French

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Etymology

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From Old French els, from Latin illos, which is the accusative plural of ille.[1]

Pronunciation

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Pronoun

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eux m pl

  1. disjunctive form of ils; them
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French personal pronouns
number person gender nominative
(subject)
accusative
(direct complement)
dative
(indirect complement)
locative
(at)
genitive
(of)
disjunctive
(tonic)1
emphatic
reflexive
singular first je, j’ me, m’ moi moi-même
second tu te, t’ toi toi-même
third masculine il2 le, l’ lui y en lui lui-même
feminine elle la, l’ elle elle-même
indeterminate on3, l’on (formal), ce4, c’, ça
reflexive se, s’5 soi soi-même
plural first nous nous nous nous-mêmes
second6 vous vous vous vous-mêmes,
vous-même6
third masculine ils7 les leur y en eux7 eux-mêmes7
feminine elles elles elles-mêmes

1 The disjunctive (tonic) forms are also used after an explicit preposition (de/d’, à, pour, chez, dans, vers, sur, sous, ...), instead the accusative, dative, genitive, locative, or reflexive forms, where a preposition is implied.
2 Il is also used as an impersonal nominative-only pronoun.
3 On can also function as a first person plural (although agreeing with third person singular verb forms).
4 The nominal indeterminate form ce (demonstrative) can also be used with the auxiliary verb être as a plural, instead of the proximal or distal gendered forms.
5 The reflexive third person singular forms (se or s’) for accusative or dative are also used as third person plural reflexive.
6 Vous is also used as the polite singular form, in which case the plural disjunctive tonic vous-mêmes becomes singular vous-même.
7 Ils, eux and eux-mêmes are also used when a group has a mixture of masculine and feminine members.

References

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  1. ^ Dauzat, Albert with Jean Dubois, Henri Mitterand (1964), chapter IL, in Nouveau dictionnaire étymologique (in French), Paris: Librairie Larousse

Further reading

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