Si j'étais toi

Timothy H.C1Kwiziq community member

Si j'étais toi

I recently came across this phrase in a conditional sentence while reading: "Si j'étais toi,...", but I can't find any grammatical reference to explain how the stressed pronoun can be used as a direct object after the verb instead of what sounds worse but looks grammatically correct: "Si je t'étais,..." Is this allowed just for emphasis or allowed within certain clauses, and is it unique to the verb être?
Asked 7 years ago
Ron T.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor
Bonjour Timoty, Here is another explanation of disjunctive pronouns. While the explanation here is very good, sometimes another view gives another perspective: forms Disjunctive pronouns (also known as tonic or stressed pronouns) refer to people whose names have already already been mentioned or whose identity is obvious from context. They are used in a variety of situations in French, most often in short answers without verbs, for emphasis, or for contrast with subject pronouns. Here are all the disjunctive pronouns: disjunctive pronouns moi (I, me) nous (we, us) toi (you) vous (you) lui (he, him) elle (she, her) soi (one) eux (they, them; masc.) elles (they, them; fem.) uses after prepositions C'est samedi soir: Tammy adore Tex. Elle ne peut pas vivre sans lui. Elle vit pour lui. Elle veut se marier avec lui. in short answers or exclamations when no verb is expressed Corey: Qui sort avec Tammy? Tex: Moi! with ni. . . ni, ne. . . que Tex (à Tammy): Je n'aime que toi ma chérie. in a compound subject or object Tammy: Tex et moi, nous aimons aller en boîte. in simple agreements or disagreements when no verb is expressed Joe-Bob: Moi aussi! Corey: Pas moi! Fiona: Moi non plus! for emphasis Joe-Bob: Eux, ils s'amusent, mais vous, vous ne sortez jamais. Dimanche matin: after c'est or ce sont Corey: C'est moi le plus nul. with -même, to mean'-self' Tammy: Arrête de t'apitoyer sur toi-même! in comparisons Corey: Il n'y a personne qui soit plus pitoyable que moi! I hope this helps somewhat. Ron

Si j'étais toi

I recently came across this phrase in a conditional sentence while reading: "Si j'étais toi,...", but I can't find any grammatical reference to explain how the stressed pronoun can be used as a direct object after the verb instead of what sounds worse but looks grammatically correct: "Si je t'étais,..." Is this allowed just for emphasis or allowed within certain clauses, and is it unique to the verb être?

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