Eux

Eux is a French disjunctive or stressed pronoun used to refer to a third-person masculine or mixed-gender plural group. It functions as a pronoun outside the finite verb, or for emphasis, and it cannot serve as the subject of a present-tense or other finite clause. The feminine counterpart in the disjunctive set is elles. In contrast, the ordinary subject pronouns for the third person plural are ils (for a masculine or mixed group) and elles (for a feminine group).

Usage of eux is common after prepositions and in emphatic constructions. After prepositions one says avec eux, pour eux, par eux, etc. When the preposition is de and the following word begins with a vowel, de eux becomes d'eux. In predicative constructions used for emphasis, one can say Ce sont eux qui ont gagné or Eux savent ce qu’ils font.

Examples illustrate typical uses: Je parle d’eux. Nous partons avec eux. Ce sont eux qui ont trouvé la solution. Eux, ils préfèrent rester.

Eux complements other pronouns in coordination and is often contrasted with the subject forms ils or elles. While ils or elles function as subjects, eux provides emphasis or stands as a detached or identified group in discourse. In everyday French, choosing between eux and ils/elles depends on whether the speaker intends to emphasize the group or place it in a non-subject, prepositional, or emphatic position.