Questions & Answers about Ils sont ensemble maintenant.
Does ils refer to a group of men or women?
Ils means "they" for a group of men, or a mixed group of men and women. If the group is entirely female, you would use elles. In French, even if a group has fifty women and only one man, you still use the masculine plural ils! Why do we use sont here instead of est?
Sont is the plural "they" form of the verb être (to be). You use est for "he is" (il est) or "she is" (elle est), but when talking about a plural group like ils (they), the verb changes to sont. Since "they" is plural, shouldn't ensemble have an 's' at the end?
No, ensemble (together) is an adverb, which means its spelling never changes. In French, you only add an 's' to make nouns and adjectives plural, but adverbs stay exactly the same. Is the 's' at the end of ils pronounced in this sentence?
No, the 's' in ils is silent here. You usually only pronounce it (as a 'z' sound) when the next word starts with a vowel. Since sont starts with a consonant, ils is simply pronounced like the English word "eel". Learn Ils sont ensemble maintenant and more in French
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free