Nous deux, vous deux.

[michael rivers]

I see the above expressions constantly in text but have never seen them explained properly in a grammar book.

1) Can these be used as a subject as well as an object?

"Nous deux sont allés au magasin" looks strange to me for some reason.

2) Can this construction be used with another numeral?

(i.e, nous trois etc.)

3) Does "tous les deux d'entre nous/vous/eux" have the same meaning as  "nous/vous/eux deux",  so the two are basically interchangeable?

Any help much appreciated.

[George Hunt]

I would say  "nous  deux sommes allés" ( not "nous deux sont allés"

Not sure about your construction  in(3) .How would you translate that to english?

Again "nous trois" sounds a bit unusual. I might prefer "nous, les trois etc"

Yes to (1) in my opinion.

[michael rivers]

Thanks for the response.

As regards your question 3), in the book Advanced French Grammar by Monique l'Huillier, it says:

"The three/four etc. of them" or "all three, four etc. of them" is tous les trois, quatre etc. d'entre eux.

Could you say "tous les deux d'entre eux" to translate "both of them" or would this have to be "eux deux"?

Similiarly, is "tous les deux d'entre nous" possible as equivalent of "nous deux"? 

[George Hunt]

If you saw the phrase in a reputable book then I am sure it must exist, even if it may  not be commonplace

It doesn't feel "logical " to me  but that is not an impediment  to its use.

"Eux deux" sounds awful to me  and I would prefer  to say "ils....tous les deux" or "les ...tous les deux" if it was the object rather than the subject

[Chantal Savignat]

Hi,

1) Can these be used as a subject as well as an object?

"Nous deux sont allés au magasin" looks strange to me for some reason.

As George said : "Nous deux sommes allés au magasin"  is right.

But ... It sounds strange. Not usual, sustained and it seems like if something is missing. But grammaticaly right.

"Nous sommes allés au magasin tous les deux" and  "Tous les deux, nous sommes allés au magasin" are more usual.

"Nous deux, nous sommes allés au magasin" is possible (for exemple : Nous deux, nous sommes allés au magasin pendant que Papa allait chercher la voiture)

2) Can this construction be used with another numeral?

(i.e, nous trois etc.)

=> yes. Same.

3) Does "tous les deux d'entre nous/vous/eux" have the same meaning as "nous/vous/eux deux", so the two are basically interchangeable?

"Nous deux" is right and means "you and me, together, doing something"

"Tous les deux d'entre eux" is false. "Tous les deux"  means you speak about everyone in a group of 2 people. "D'entre eux" means you add an information about the group ( there are more than 2 prople). So there are a contradiction and  "tous les deux d'entre eux" is false. 

"Eux deux" is right, used, often in expressions. "C'est un grand bonheur pour eux deux" "Socrate et Platon, pour ne citer qu'eux deux, ....". "Tous les deux" is more usual in conversation.

"Deux d'entre eux" is right and means "there is a group of many people (more than 2) and we speak about 2 people from this group"

translation of "The three/four etc. of them": I am surprise by the word "Tous" in this place "Tous les trois, quatre etc. d'entre eux" it's false. I would translate "The three of them"  by   "Les trois d'entre eux" ("les trois parmi eux" is right too). But if we speak about a group including us,  "les trois parmi nous" is prefer.

[michael rivers]

Thank you so much for the very comprehensive reply. It clears up a lot of confusion for me.