Question 1

Why do we start the sentence with Lui instead of Il?

Accepted Answer

Lui is a stressed pronoun (meaning "him"). In French, you can use a stressed pronoun at the start of a sentence to add emphasis, just like saying "Him, he's a friend" in English. You can't use a normal subject pronoun like il standing alone or separated by a comma.

Question 2

Can I just say "Lui est un ami" without the c'est?

Accepted Answer

No, you can't use a stressed pronoun like lui as the actual subject of the verb. You still need the main subject and verb, which here is c'est (it is / he is). Lui is just sitting outside the main sentence to draw attention to the person.

Question 3

Since we are talking about a specific man ("he"), why do we use c'est instead of il est?

Accepted Answer

This is a very common rule in French! When you identify someone using a noun that has an article in front of it (like un ami), you must use c'est. You only use il est when followed directly by an adjective or a profession without an article (like il est intelligent).

Question 4

How would I change this sentence to say "Her, she is a friend"?

Accepted Answer

You would change the stressed pronoun lui to the feminine stressed pronoun elle, and make the noun feminine too: Elle, c'est une amie. Notice that c'est stays exactly the same!

Lui, c'est un ami.

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