Direct and Indirect Object Pronouns French

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Learn how to use and identify direct object pronouns in French as well as indirect object pronouns in French.

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What are Direct and Indirect Object PronounsFrench Direct and Indirect Object PronounsRules for Using Direct and Indirect Pronouns in FrenchHow to Tell When to Use French Direct or Indirect Object PronounsThe Exceptions to the Rules of Indirect and Direct Object Pronouns in FrenchExamples of French Direct Pronouns and French Indirect PronounsOther ResourcesConclusion

Here you will find what direct and indirect object pronouns are and how to use them when talking in French. This is a tricky part of grammar, so don’t get disheartened if at first you don’t understand it. The main thing is to keep trying and practicing and shortly it will come to you naturally.

By using direct and indirect object pronouns in your French, you will be able to cut down your sentences and make them flow more naturally, allowing you to become more fluent.

What are Direct and Indirect Object Pronouns

Direct Object Pronouns

Direct object pronouns replace the direct object of a verb. For example, “I see the work” becomes “I see it”: Je vois le travail → Je le vois. Here, le travail is the direct object replaced by le.

Indirect Object Pronouns

Indirect pronouns in French and English are similar to direct pronouns in regard to what their use is. They are used to replace the noun that is the indirect object of a verb. So, for example, if you were to say I gave the book to Martin, it would become I gave him the book. In this instance, “Martin” is the noun that is being replaced with the indirect pronoun “him”.

French Direct and Indirect Object Pronouns

As you can see, for the most part the direct and indirect object pronouns in French tend to be the same, only changing when you are referring to him/her/it and them.

When using these pronouns with words that begin with a vowel or a mute “h”, it is important to remember to use the second variation, such as ‘L’’ instead of ‘Le’ or ‘La’.

Rules for Using Direct and Indirect Pronouns in French

For a singular direct object, choose le or la according to the noun’s gender: J’aime la journée → Je l’aime (I like the day → I like it). The indirect pronouns lui and leur do not distinguish masculine from feminine.

For the same reason, the noun that is being replaced also determines whether the direct or indirect pronoun used will be the singular or the plural, like it would be in English. So, when talking about a group that you are not a part of, or multiple people, the pronoun will be the one used for “them” regardless of gender.

While the noun that will be replaced tends to follow after the verb, direct and indirect pronouns usually appear before it when using French.

How to Tell When to Use French Direct or Indirect Object Pronouns

Determining whether to use a direct or indirect object pronoun in French, largely depends on whether there is a preposition being used before the noun in the sentence that you are changing it for, and if there is, which one is in use. As with all grammar lessons, there are a few rules that you can learn to make it easier for you.

If there isn’t a preposition before the noun, then as a general rule you can assume it will be a direct object pronoun. For example, “Nous cuisinons le dîner” (We are cooking dinner) there isn’t a preposition in place before “le dîner”, which means that a direct object pronoun is needed, so it becomes “Nous le cuisinons” (We are cooking it).

With verbs such as donner, an indirect object introduced by à can become lui or leur: Je donne à manger à Émilie → Je lui donne à manger (I give food to Émilie → I give her food). The verb matters: Je pense à Émilie becomes Je pense à elle, rather than Je lui pense.

The Exceptions to the Rules of Indirect and Direct Object Pronouns in French

The common indirect object pronouns lui and leur usually refer to people or animals. For other complements, you may need y or en, depending on the verb and preposition. You can find those rules here.

Examples of French Direct Pronouns and French Indirect Pronouns

There have been examples used throughout this article, but here are a few more just to make sure that you fully understand how to replace the nouns with either a direct or indirect object pronoun.

• “As-tu offert des fleurs à Marie ?” becomes “Lui as-tu offert des fleurs ?” – (“Did you give flowers to Marie?” becomes “Did you give her flowers?”)
• “Voulez-vous la balle?” becomes “La voulez-vous?” – (“Would you like the ball?” becomes “Would you like it?”)
• “Je vais t’appeler” – (“I am going to call you”)
• “Ce bâton appartient au chien” becomes “Ce bâton lui appartient” – (“That stick belongs to the dog” becomes “That stick belongs to it”)
• “Nous attendons nos amis” becomes “nous les attendons” – (“We are waiting for our friends” becomes “We are waiting for them”)
  
  

Other Resources

There are plenty of different resources available to you should you be struggling to understand the lesson here.

Music

If you learn better by listening to music then there are a variety of options available on Youtube including this song set to the macarena. This is particularly helpful because it combines a popular, well known tune with the direct and indirect object pronouns and the explanations of how to use them.

Quizzes

As revision, there are also a variety of worksheets and quizzes available to you online to consolidate your knowledge.

One particular quiz is available on proprofs.com and will correct you if you don’t get the answer right away, so you don’t have to check your own work. This quiz also asks you to type out your answers for a few of the questions so you will be spelling the object pronouns too.

Conclusion

As you can see, while the task of swapping out nouns for direct and indirect pronouns in French can seem confusing and daunting, once you learn the rules of doing so, it will become second nature. And the more you use them, the easier it will become to automatically swap them in and out as the situation requires.

By using these object pronouns your sentences will become more natural and avoid the repetition of words and phrases when talking about the same subject.

Further information on pronouns can be found at the locations listed below:

• French Relative Pronouns
• French Demonstrative Adjectives and Pronouns
• French Pronouns En and Y