It is [person's name]

Chapel H.A2Kwiziq community member

It is [person's name]

In a quiz: 

Q:  Qui est cet homme?

A:  C’est Marc Dupré.

Why C'est and not Il est?  

The first rule in the lesson for C’est is that you use it if it/he/she is followed by un/une/le/la or another article.  That is not the case here.

The second rule is to use C'est to express general, unspecific statements and opinions, referring to a thing generally, as in something unspecified is great or delicious, like "Science is fun!".  But here, the answer is identifying a specific person, Marc Dupré, not a general concept.  

Thanks.

Asked 4 years ago
CécileNative French expert teacher in KwiziqCorrect answer

Hi Chapel,

In the case of people you cannot use 'il/elle est' .

It has to be -

C'est Martine

C'est Mme Legrand

C'est mon oncle

C'est Marc Dupré 

etc.

Hope this helps!

Chris W.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

In English, you would also tend to use the impersonal form:

"Who is that?" -- "That's Mike" (and not "he is mike")

Sebastian S.B2Kwiziq community member

It would be really helpful if this point could be added to the article, rather than all the way down the comments.

Chapel H. asked:

It is [person's name]

In a quiz: 

Q:  Qui est cet homme?

A:  C’est Marc Dupré.

Why C'est and not Il est?  

The first rule in the lesson for C’est is that you use it if it/he/she is followed by un/une/le/la or another article.  That is not the case here.

The second rule is to use C'est to express general, unspecific statements and opinions, referring to a thing generally, as in something unspecified is great or delicious, like "Science is fun!".  But here, the answer is identifying a specific person, Marc Dupré, not a general concept.  

Thanks.

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