Questions & Answers about Si vous êtes enthousiastes, nous le sommes aussi.
Since enthousiastes is plural, why do we use le instead of les?
When an object pronoun replaces an adjective (like enthousiastes) rather than a specific noun, you must use the neuter pronoun le. Because it represents the abstract idea of a state or quality, it is invariable—it never changes to la or les, regardless of the gender or number of the subject. Could I just say nous sommes aussi, mirroring the English "we are too"?
No, this is a very common trap for English speakers! In French, you cannot leave a linking verb like être (to be) "hanging" without its complement. You must use the neuter pronoun le to refer back to the adjective. Literally, you are saying "we it are too." How can we tell from this sentence whether vous means a plural "you" or a formal singular "you"?
Look at the spelling of the adjective: enthousiastes ends in an -s. While the pronunciation is exactly the same, this written plural agreement tells us that vous refers to a group of people. If it were the formal singular addressing one person, it would be written Si vous êtes enthousiaste. Does this neuter le rule only apply to the verb être?
While it is most common with être, you will also see this neuter le replacing adjectives after other state-of-being verbs like devenir (to become), sembler (to seem), or paraître (to appear). For example: Ils semblent fatigués, et nous le semblons aussi (They seem tired, and we seem so too). Learn Si vous êtes enthousiastes, nous le sommes aussi and more in French
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