Salut! So Iâm in French 103 at university and I just failed a quiz on the indirect and direct pronouns and, like, placing in the sentence. (She lives in Paris- Elle y vit) that kind of thing. Can you help me out?
- me, mâ, moi = me (ex : tu me connais - you know me)
- te, tâ, toi = you (ex : je te connais - i know you)
- le, lâ = him, it (ex : tu le connais - you know him)
- la, lâ = her, it (ex : nous la connaissons - we know her)
- nous = us (ex : tu nous connais - you know us)
- vous = you (ex : ils vous connaissent - they know you)
- les = them (ex : elle les connaĂźt - she knows them)
n.b. 1 : mâ, tâ and lâ are contracted forms and used before a vowel or a mute h (ex : tu mâappelles, je lâadore, tu tâhabilles bien)
n.b. 2 : moi, toi are stressed forms and used in imperative constructions (ex : donne-le-moi - give it to me)
n.b. 3 : we donât have âitâ in french, everything is gendered (ex : that chair is hurting my back - elle me fait mal au dos)
a direct object (complĂ©ment dâobjet direct - COD) :
- is placed right after the verb,
- answers the question what/who,
- refers to the person or thing making the action
ex : le chat mange des croquettes. le chat mange quoi ? des croquettes
determiner + pronoun + verbÂ
ex : je tâaime = i love you
in sentences involving compound tenses :
(perfect tense, pluperfect, future and conditional perfect, past anterior, past infinitive, past and pluperfect subjunctive, past imperative, perfect participle) :Â
determiner + pronoun + auxiliary + verbÂ
ex : il te lâavait montrĂ©e = he had shown it to you
in sentences involving semi-auxiliary verbs :
(aller - to go, venir - to come, savoir - to know, vouloir - to want, faire - to do, devoir - to have to, pouvoir - to can) :Â
determiner + semi-auxiliary verb + pronoun + infinitive
ex : vous pouvez les appeler = you can call them
- y : replaces a proposition or an infinitive introduced par Ă , au, Ă la, Ă lâ or aux (at)(elle pense Ă partir - elle y pense = sheâs thinking about leaving - sheâs thinking about it)
- en : replaces a verb introduced by du, de la, des (elle sâoccupe du chat - elle sâen occupe = sheâs taking care of the cat - sheâs taking care of it)
n.b. 1 : mâ, tâ and lâ are contracted forms and used before a vowel or a mute h
n.b. 2 : moi, toi are stressed forms and used in imperative constructions (ex : ramĂšne-la-lui = bring it to him/her)
n.b. 3 : lui is used for masculine + feminine words, you have to use the context to identify the objectâs gender (ex : je lui manque = he or sheâs missing me)
an indirect object (complĂ©ment dâobjet indirect - COI) :
- is separated from the verb by a preposition (the main ones being : Ă - at, chez - at (someoneâs place), dans - in, de - of, from, since, byâŠ, entre - between, jusque - as far as, hors - except (for), par - by, with, out of, pour - for, sans - without et vers - towards),
- answers the question of who? of what? to who? to what?,
- refers to the person or thing experiencing the action,
- can be : a noun/nominal group (nous sommes partis sans lui), a pronoun (tu leur expliqueras), an infinitive (il est allĂ© jusquâĂ prendre la route de nuit) or a subordinate clause (nous avons obĂ©i Ă ce que tu as demandĂ©)
ex : sophie discute avec jules. sophie discute avec qui ? jules
when replacing Ă (to) + someone :
determiner + pronoun (me, te, lui, nous, vous, leur) + verb + indirect object
ex : je donne un cadeau Ă camille et madeleine = je leur donne un cadeau
when replacing Ă (to) + a thing :
determiner + y + verb (+ adverb)
ex : sophie pense à sa poupée = sophie y pense
when replacing de (about) + someone/a thing :
determiner + verb + de/dâ + pronoun (moi, toi, lui/elle, nous, vous, eux/elles)
ex : sophie parle de m. et mlle de rĂ©an = sophie parle dâeux