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The meaning of the each are same, but which one is used in what condition?

Maroon
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  • Welcome to FSE. Please note the correct spelling: celui-là. – Dimitris Oct 13 '20 at 12:35
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    I know but i don't have that letter on my keyboard. –  Oct 13 '20 at 12:38
  • I don't know which keyboard you use. The following question could be helpful: https://french.stackexchange.com/questions/30101/can-i-drop-french-accents-when-writing-computer-text-in-french – Dimitris Oct 13 '20 at 13:34
  • With a QWERTY keyboard I would suggest (valid for the Windows and Ubuntu operational systems alike) the International Keyboard.

    You can type very efficiently all the accents (not only for the French language; I use it, for instance, to type German diacritics as well). It suffices to learn some shortcuts and voilà. Everything is thoroughly explained in the following link:

    http://sites.psu.edu/symbolcodes/windows/codeint/

    For Ubuntu users see

    https://www.wikihow.com/Change-Keyboard-Layout-in-Ubuntu

     – Dimitris Oct 13 '20 at 13:35
  • For Mac users see: https://support.apple.com/kb/PH25643?locale=en_US – Dimitris Oct 13 '20 at 13:35
  • Notice also that the English 1st personal pronoun "I" (unlike its French homologue "je") is written always with a capital letter in whether it starts a sentence or not. – Dimitris Oct 13 '20 at 13:38
  • You should activate the International Keyboard. – Lambie Nov 29 '21 at 00:53
  • @Lambie The OP has left FSE. – jlliagre Nov 29 '21 at 01:03

1 Answers1

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The meaning is very close between celui-ci and celui-là. In theory, the first one is for things closer than the second one but this nuance is not always respected. We often just favor celui-là because celui-ci is formal.

The third one (ceci) has a different meaning.

They are close to the English: this one (celui-ci, formal) , that one (celui-là) and this (ceci, formal).

You are missing cela (formal) and ça for the English that.

Ça can be used for either "this" or "that" so C'est quoi, ça ? means What's this? or What's that? depending on the context.

Note that celui is masculine singular and must agree with what it refers to, e.g.:

celui-ci, celle-ci, ceux-ci, celles-ci

On the other hand, ceci, cela and ça are invariable.

jlliagre
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