French object pronouns: je la vois, je lui parle, and je le lui donne
Replace the object · pick a sentence
With the noun
JeIvoisseeMarie.Marie
zhuh VWA ma-REE · “I see Marie.”
→
With a pronoun
JeIlahervois.see
zhuh la VWA · “I see her.”
Why:Voir takes a direct object, Marie is feminine: la, before the verb.
Short answer: object pronouns replace a noun and go before the verb, not after as in English: je vois Marie → je la vois (I see her). A direct object follows the verb straight away and becomes le, la, les; an indirect object comes after à and becomes lui, leur. With two verbs, the pronoun goes before the one it belongs to: je vais le faire. In the passé composé it goes before avoir: je l’ai vu.
Direct and indirect pronouns
Le, la, les or lui, leur?
Only the third person differs. For “me”, “you”, “us”, the same word works for both kinds.
English
Direct
Indirect (à …)
me
me / m’
me / m’
you (tu)
te / t’
te / t’
him, it (m.)
le / l’
lui
her, it (f.)
la / l’
lui
us
nous
nous
you (vous)
vous
vous
them
les
leur
Which verbs take à
Attendre quelqu’un, téléphoner à quelqu’un
French and English don’t always agree on whether a verb takes a preposition. These everyday verbs are the ones to learn.
Direct in French (no à)English adds a preposition; French doesn’t. Use le, la, les.
Indirect in French (+ à)Use lui, leur for people.
The order of two pronouns
Me, le, lui, y, en
When two pronouns meet before a verb, they always line up in the same five slots, left to right. You rarely need more than two.
1me te se nous vous
2le la les
3lui leur
4y
5en
Ilhemeto-meleitdonne.gives
eel muh luh DON
“He gives it to me.”Slot 1 (me) before slot 2 (le).
JeIlaitleurto-themmontre.show
zhuh la luhr MONTR
“I show it to them.”Slot 2 (la) before slot 3 (leur).
JeIluito-himensomedonne.give
zhuh lwee zon DON
“I give him some.”Slot 3 before slot 5: lui en.
Il ythereenof-themahastrois.three
eel ee on NA TRWA
“There are three of them.”Y before en: the fixed il y en a.
Agreement in the passé composé
Les photos ? Je les ai prises.
When a direct object pronoun comes before avoir, the past participle agrees with it. Usually you only see this in writing; with participles ending in a consonant, like pris → prises, you hear it too.
No agreement
J’aiI-havepristakenles photos.the photos
zhay PREE lay fo-TOH · “I took the photos.”
Agreement: pronoun before avoir
JeIlesthemaihaveprises.taken
zhuh lay ZAY PREEZ · “I took them.”
Silent agreement
La lettre ?the letterJeIl’aiit-haveenvoyée.sent
la LETR? zhuh LAY on-vwa-YAY · “The letter? I sent it.”
Indirect: no agreement
JeIleurto-themaihaveparlé.spoken
zhuh luhr AY par-LAY · “I spoke to them.”
Pronouns with commands
Donne-le-moi ! Ne me le donne pas !
In a positive command, pronouns jump after the verb, joined by hyphens, and me / te become moi / toi. In a negative command they go back in front, in the normal order.
Positive · after, with hyphens
Donne-le-moi !give-it-to-me
don-luh-MWA · “Give it to me!”
Regarde-moi !look-at-me
ruh-gar-duh-MWA · “Look at me!”
Prenez-entake-of-itdeux.two
pruh-nay-ZON duh · “Take two of them.”
Negative · before, as usual
Nenotme leto-me itdonnegivepas !not
nuh muh luh DON PA · “Don’t give it to me!”
Nenotmemeregardelook-atpas !not
nuh muh ruh-GARD PA · “Don’t look at me!”
N’ennot-of-itpreneztakepas.not
non pruh-NAY PA · “Don’t take any.”
Pronouns with two verbs
Je vais le faire, je peux t’aider
When a conjugated verb is followed by an infinitive (the base form, like faire), the pronoun goes in front of the verb it belongs to: the infinitive. This is the opposite of the passé composé, where it goes before avoir.