Learn French: Vous n'êtes pas encore épuisés, mais nous le sommes.

Vous n'êtes pas encore épuisés, mais nous le sommes.

You are not exhausted yet, but we are.

Breakdown of Vous n'êtes pas encore épuisés, mais nous le sommes.

we / us (object pronoun)

vous

you (plural/formal)

Questions & Answers about Vous n'êtes pas encore épuisés, mais nous le sommes.

Why is there a le in nous le sommes when the English translation is just "we are"?

In English, we can drop the adjective and end the sentence with "we are". French does not allow you to leave the verb être hanging like this. You must replace the omitted adjective (épuisés) with the neuter pronoun le to represent the state of being exhausted.

Since nous is plural and épuisés is plural, why isn't it nous les sommes?

When a pronoun replaces an adjective or a general state of being, it acts as a "neuter" pronoun. This means it is always the invariable le and never changes to la or les, regardless of the gender or number of the subject it refers to.

Could I just repeat the adjective and say mais nous sommes épuisés?

Yes, you absolutely can! Using le is simply a more elegant and native-sounding way to avoid repeating the adjective in the same sentence.

How can we tell from the French sentence that vous refers to multiple people?

Look at the adjective épuisés. Because it has the plural s ending, it shows that vous is being used as a plural "you" rather than a formal singular "you" (which would be spelled épuisé or épuisée).