A2
Object pronouns
The French direct and indirect object pronouns, where they sit in the sentence, and how to tell which one a verb needs.
| direct | indirect | |
|---|---|---|
| me | me | me |
| you | te | te |
| him / her | le / la | lui |
| us | nous | nous |
| you | vous | vous |
| them | les | leur |
The first and second persons are identical either way. Only the third person forces you to decide.
They go before the verb
This is the structural difference from English, and it has to become automatic.
Je le vois.
I him see
I see him.
Elle nous attend.
she us waits-for
She’s waiting for us.
Je vois le.
Je le vois.
The pronoun precedes the verb. English word order here produces something no French speaker would say.
Direct or indirect depends on the French verb
If the verb takes à before a person, the pronoun is indirect.
Je lui parle.
I to-him speak
I’m speaking to him.
Parler à quelqu’un — so lui. But voir quelqu’un takes no preposition, so le. The English translation is no guide at all.
Je lui vois.
Je le vois.
Voir takes a direct object in French. Lui would be right for parler, téléphoner, donner and répondre, all of which take à.
Téléphoner à and répondre à are the ones that catch English speakers, since phone someone and answer someone take no preposition in English.
In the past, before the auxiliary
Je l’ai vu hier.
I him-have seen yesterday
I saw him yesterday.
And with a preceding direct object, the participle agrees with it — je les ai vues if les refers to women. This is the one place avoir forces agreement.
Two pronouns together
The order is fixed: me/te/se/nous/vous, then le/la/les, then lui/leur.
Il me le donne.
he to-me it gives
He gives it to me.