nous autres

See also: nous-autres

French

Alternative forms

• (especially Louisiana) nous-autres

Etymology

See nous (“us”) and autres (“others”). Compare Asturian nosotros, Catalan nosaltres, Galician nosoutros, Italian noialtri, Occitan nosautres, Spanish nosotros.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nu.z‿otʁ/
• (Louisiana) IPA^(key): [nu.zɔt]

Pronoun

nous autres m pl or f pl

1. we (exclusive first-person plural pronoun (others and I but not you))
2. (Canada, Louisiana) we (inclusive or exclusive first-person plural pronoun (you and I; you, others, and I; or others and I))

   Synonyms: (rare in Louisiana) nous, on

   • 2010, Valdman, et al., Dictionary of Louisiana French as Spoken in Cajun, Creole, and American Indian Communities, page 419:

     Nous-autres est après pomper le riz.

     We are irrigating the rice.

3. (Louisiana, following a preposition or infinitive) us (objective case of we)
   • 2010, Valdman, et al., Dictionary of Louisiana French, page 419:

     Dans le vieux temps, quand on allait visiter une fille, souvent on se balançait sur la galerie avec le père et la mère droit là avec nous-autres.

     In the old days, when we would go to visit a girl, often we would swing on the porch with the father and mother right there with us.

   • 2010, Valdman, et al., Dictionary of Louisiana French, page 419:

     Ça a donné la main à les enfants de nous attendre nous-autres parler français tu connais.

     It helped the children to hear us speak French, you know.

Usage notes

• In Louisiana, nous-autres as a subject pronoun takes a third-person singular conjugation (e.g. nous-autres est, nous-autres a, nous-autres connaît, etc.).

Derived terms

• nous-autres-mêmes (“ourselves”)

Collocations

• nous-autres, on

Descendants

• Louisiana Creole: nouzòt

See also

• vous autres, vous-autres

Further reading

• Dictionary of Louisiana French: As Spoken in Cajun, Creole, and American Indian Communities (2009; →ISBN; →ISBN)