Direct object pronouns

 These are the replacement words we use instead
of naming things - “I see Jane” becomes “I see
her”, “we eat cake” becomes “we eat it”

 There are two types of objects
◦ Direct Objects
◦ Indirect Objects
 We are going to use the following sentence as a
model for the rest of the lesson:
◦ Georges throws the ball to Jean.

 Indirect means ‘when there IS someone or
something in the way’, usually indicated by the
word or sense of TO
 So - “he talks to me”
What’s the difference?What’s the difference?

Je t’aime mon amour!

 Direct literally means ‘when there’s no-one or
nothing in the way’
 So - he kisses me.

 Direct objects DIRECTLY receive the action of the
verb.
 Direct objects answer the question what or whom.
 Let’s go back to our model:
 What does Georges throw?
 The ball! The ball is the direct object.

 Try the following:
 Caroline writes the letter to her Grandma.
◦ Direct object: the letter
 Mathieu is going to read books to his sister.
◦ Direct object: books
 The teacher speak French.
◦ Direct object: French

 Direct object pronouns replace direct objects.
 In English the direct object pronouns are: me, you,
it, him, her, us, them.
 Let’s go back to our sentence:
◦ Direct object: the ball
◦ Pronoun to replace the ball: it
◦ George throws it to Jean.

 Try the following:
 Caroline writes the letter to her Grandma.
◦ Direct object: the letter
 Replaced with: it (Caroline writes it to her Grandma.)
 Mathieu is going to read books to his sister.
◦ Direct object: books
 Replaced with: them (Mathieu is going to read them to his sister.)
 The teacher speaks French.
◦ Direct Object: French
 Replaced with: it (The teacher speaks it.)

 The direct object pronouns in French are:
◦ Me (me)
◦ Te (you [tu])
◦ Le (him/it—masculine, singular)
◦ La (her/it—feminine, singular)
◦ Nous (us)
◦ Vous (you—vous form)
◦ Les
 There are two rules you must follow when using object
pronouns in French:
1. Object pronouns must agree with the noun they are replacing
2. Object pronouns go before the verb they are linked to.
Remember, le and la
become l’ before a
vowel!

 Let’s translate our sentence into French:
◦ Georges lance le ballon à Jean.
 If ball is the direct object in English, what is the
direct object in French:
◦ Le ballon
 Le ballon is masculine singular, therefore we
must use LE to replace le ballon.

Georges lance à Jean.
le ballonle ballon
(le)(le)
lele

 Caroline écrit la lettre à sa grand-mère.
◦ Caroline l’écrit à sa grand-mère.
 Mathieu va lire les livres à sa soeur.
◦ Mathieu va les lire à sa soeur.
 Le prof parle le français.
◦ Le prof le parle.

 The indirect object pronouns in French are:
◦ Me (to me)
◦ Te (to you [tu])
◦ Lui (to him/it/her)
◦ Nous (to us)
◦ Vous (to you—vous form)
◦ Leur (to them)
1. Object pronouns go before the verb they are linked to.

 Caroline écrit la lettre à sa grand-mère.
◦ Caroline lui écrit la lettre.
 Mathieu va lire les livres à sa soeur.
◦ Mathieu va lui lire les livres.
 Le prof donne les livres aux eleves.
◦ Le prof leur donne les livres.

(To) me/
you/ us
Him/her/
it/them
To him/to
her/to
them
me
te
nous
vous
le
la
les
l'
lui
leur
When using more than one
pronoun in a sentence they
will ALWAYS go in this
order

 Ses amis racontent l’histoire à Murielle
 Elle donne le message à Franck
 vous envoyez les produits au client

 Ses amis la lui racontent
 Elle le lui donne
 vous les lui envoyez

Direct object pronouns

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Direct object pronouns