the subject of etre

[Joyce Swait]

C'est moi qui est patron

ou

C'est moi qui suis patron

With the verb etre, which is the subject of the above sentence?  By using 'ce', I want to think 'it' is the subject and thus the second verb should be third person singular.  But the 'moi' seems to need 'suis'.

In English (if we used this more laboured form, I suppose we would not say 'it is I who is the owner' but 'it is I who am the owner' - but using 'suis' seems pedantic, even if it is correct.

Sorry about lack of accents - my keyboard skills don't go that far.

[Erwan]

We say C'est moi qui suis le patron. The  subject of suis is moi in this sentence.

[Joyce Swait]

Thank you Erwan.

[Neil Coffey]

In this case and some other cases of verb agreement, it's best not to worry too much about what English does: French and English are different languages with slightly different details and how verb agreement works in some of these "corner" cases.

 

In English, people would generally say "It's me that's the owner" or "It's me who's the owner", using a third person verb form as you say. But in French, speakers use the pattern that Erwan has indicated, using the verb form to match the person. Similarly: "C'est nous qui sommes...", "C'est eux qui sont..." etc.

 

In French, this is not at all pedantic, but simply the way the language naturally operates. Whereas in English, "It is I who am...." is essentially a pedantic invention, but probably not actually the natural form that speakers would automatically use most of the time.

[Joyce Swait]

Thank you Neil - that makes sense - I shall have to strive to fit it in to everyday usage until it does not seem so odd in future!