Learn French: Je doute qu'elle soit indifférente, mais il l'est. - I doubt that she is indifferent, but he is.

Je doute qu'elle soit indifférente, mais il l'est.

I doubt that she is indifferent, but he is.

Breakdown of Je doute qu'elle soit indifférente, mais il l'est.

Questions & Answers about Je doute qu'elle soit indifférente, mais il l'est.

What does the l' in il l'est stand for?

It is the neuter pronoun le (contracted to l' before a vowel). In French, it is replacing the adjective indifférent. While in English we can simply say "he is", French requires this pronoun to stand in for the adjective or state that was just mentioned.

Since it refers back to indifférente (feminine), shouldn't we use la instead of le?

No, because when a pronoun replaces an adjective or a general state (rather than a specific noun), it acts as a "neuter" pronoun. This means it is always the invariable le (or l'), regardless of the gender and number of the adjective it replaces.

Could I drop the pronoun and just say mais il est like in English?

No, that sounds very unnatural in French. You cannot leave the verb être (to be) "dangling" at the end of a sentence like we do in English. You must include the neuter pronoun le to complete the thought.

Why is soit in the subjunctive, but est is in the indicative?