Breakdown of Le philosophe pense qu'on a une conscience de soi.
une
a / an (feminine)
on
one / we (informal)
avoir
to have
de
of / from / any (in negative sentences) / about (concerning)
le
him, it (masculine direct object pronoun)
penser
to think
que
that (introducing a clause)
soi
oneself
le philosophe
the philosopher
la conscience
the conscience
Questions & Answers about Le philosophe pense qu'on a une conscience de soi.
Why do we use soi here instead of lui or elle?
Soi is the stressed pronoun used when the subject of the sentence is an indefinite pronoun, like on (one/people in general), chacun (everyone), or personne (nobody). Since the subject here is on, we use de soi to mean "of oneself".
Would the pronoun change if the subject was a specific person instead of on?
Why doesn't pense qu' trigger the subjunctive for the verb avoir?
The verb penser que (to think that) only takes the subjunctive when it is negative (like ne pense pas que) or inverted in a question. Since this sentence is a straightforward affirmative statement, we use the normal present tense a instead of the subjunctive ait.
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