Tuesday, November 5, 2019
Lon or On Euphony in French Pronunciation
Lon or On Euphony in French Pronunciation On is the French impersonal subject pronoun, and normally shouldnt be preceded by l neither the direct object definite article In Old French, on was the subject case for the noun homme, so lon at this time meant les hommes. When the subject case disappeared in French, on stuck around as a pronoun, and retained the ability to take the definite article. Lon is much more common in written French than in spoken, because it is a formal, elegant construction, and writing tends to be more formal than speech. Today, this l is simply considered a euphonic consonant and is used in the following situations: 1. After certain monosyllabic words that end in a vowel sound, like et, ou, oà ¹, qui,quoi, and si, to avoid a hiatus. Sais-tu si lon a demandà ©Ã‚ ?  (avoid si on)  Do you know if someone asked?...et lon a dit la verità ©.      (avoid et on)  ...and they told the truth. 2. After que, lorsque, and puisque, to avoid the contraction quon (sounds like con), especially if the next word begins with the sound con. Lorsque lon est arrivà ©... (avoid lorsquon)  When we arrived...Il faut que lon comprenne. (avoid quoncomprenne)  Its necessary for everyone to understand. 3. At the beginning of a sentence or clause. This usage of lon is not a question of euphony, but rather a holdover from là ©poque classique and is thus very formal. Lon ne sait jamais.  One never knows.   Lorsque je suis arrivà ©, lon ma dit bonjour.  When I arrived, everyone said hello. Note: For the purposes of euphony, on is used instead of lon After dont (le livre dont on a parlà ©)In front of words that begin with l (je sais oà ¹ on lit)
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