Log inSign up

Ils sont ensemble ? Je le suppose.

Ils sont ensemble ? Je le suppose.
Are they together? I suppose so.
From Lesson 152:The neuter object pronoun (le)·French

Questions & Answers about Ils sont ensemble ? Je le suppose.

Why do we use le in Je le suppose? Doesn't le usually mean 'him' or 'it'?
Here, le is a neuter pronoun. Instead of replacing a specific noun, it replaces the entire previous idea: the fact that they are together. In English, we usually express this with 'so' (I suppose so), but French uses le.
Can I just leave out the le and say Je suppose, like how we say 'I suppose' in English?
In English, dropping 'so' is common, but in French, verbs like supposer (to suppose), croire (to believe), and savoir (to know) strongly prefer having a direct object. Without le to represent the idea, the French sentence would sound incomplete, as if you trailed off mid-thought.
If the first sentence was about a group of women (Elles sont ensemble ?), would Je le suppose change to Je la suppose?
No, it stays le. Because the pronoun refers to a whole concept or situation rather than a specific feminine or plural noun, it acts as an invariable (unchanging) neuter pronoun. It will always be le regardless of who or what the previous sentence was about.
I noticed a space before the question mark in Ils sont ensemble ? Is that a typo?
No, that is standard French punctuation! Unlike in English, French requires a space before two-part punctuation marks, which include question marks, exclamation points, colons, and semicolons.

Learn Ils sont ensemble ? Je le suppose 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
Start learning French →