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Écoutez ceci : soit on respecte le principe, soit on crée un dilemme.

Écoutez ceci : soit on respecte le principe, soit on crée un dilemme.
Listen to this: either we respect the principle, or we create a dilemma.
From Lesson 442:Neutral demonstrative pronouns (ceci, cela)·French

Questions & Answers about Écoutez ceci : soit on respecte le principe, soit on crée un dilemme.

Why do we use ceci in this sentence instead of cela or ça?
Ceci is used to introduce something you are about to say—in this case, the two choices presented after the colon. Ceci points forward to new information, whereas cela (and its everyday equivalent, ça) points backward to an idea you have already mentioned.
How does the structure soit ... soit ... work here?
It translates to "either ... or". You use soit [option A], soit [option B] when presenting two mutually exclusive choices. It is a very common and slightly more elegant alternative to using ou ... ou ....
Soit is the subjunctive form of être. Does that mean the following verbs (respecte, crée) are in the subjunctive?
No. When soit is used as a conjunction to mean "either/or", it loses its function as a verb and does not force the following verbs into the subjunctive. Both respecte and crée are in the standard present indicative.
I noticed the word dilemme ends in "e". Is it feminine?
No, it is masculine (un dilemme). English speakers often guess it's feminine because the English equivalent ends in "a" ("dilemma"), but in French, it ends in "e" and takes a masculine article.

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