Learn French: Les uns coopèrent, les autres refusent. - Some cooperate, the others refuse.

Les uns coopèrent, les autres refusent.

Some cooperate, the others refuse.

Breakdown of Les uns coopèrent, les autres refusent.

Questions & Answers about Les uns coopèrent, les autres refusent.

Why use les uns instead of certains to say "some"?

While certains just means "some" in a general way, les uns... les autres is a paired structure used specifically to contrast two parts of a whole. It splits a larger, previously mentioned group into two distinct camps: "some do this, the others do that."

Why does French use the definite article les before uns?

In this contrastive structure, French literally says "the ones... the others". Even though we translate it as "some" in English, French treats these two sub-groups as specific, defined portions of the whole, which requires the definite article les.

Could this sentence use les unes instead of les uns?

Yes. Because les uns and les autres are pronouns, they must agree in gender with the noun they replace. If this sentence were referring entirely to female colleagues, for example, it would be Les unes coopèrent, les autres refusent.

Do I need to make a liaison when pronouncing les uns and les autres?

Yes, both require a mandatory spoken liaison. You must pronounce the "s" in les as a "z" sound connecting to the following vowel: "lez-uns" and "lez-autres".