What’s an object pronoun ?

In a basic question such as ‘Does he love cats?’, we have a subject, a verb and an object.

subject verb object

In the answer, we will use the object pronoun them to avoid repeating the object cats

object

pronoun

What’s a direct object pronoun ?

To understand the label ‘direct pronoun’ you first need to understand what a

‘direct verb’ is.

A direct verb* is a verb that can be directly followed by the word someone or

something.

* as opposed to an ‘indirect’ verb eg: talk to someone (Level 2 of this course)

eg:

to love someone/something

to see someone/something

to meet someone

to eat something

aimer quelqu’un /quelque chose

voir quelqu’un /quelque chose

rencontrer quelqu’un

manger quelque chose

therefore.....

La liste des pronoms directs

me

you

him

her

it

us

you

them

me / m’

te / t’ (inf.)

le / l’

la / l’

le / la / l’

nous

vous (form. or to a group)

les

to love

to see

to call

to meet etc.

...a pronoun used to replace that someone or something is called a

direct pronoun. Et voilà !

aimer

voir

appeler

rencontrer etc.

1. French object pronouns are placed before the verb they relate to :

2. You cannot assume that because a verb is direct in English it

will be direct in French (and vice-versa).

To listen to someone => Écouter quelqu’un (direct)

To wait for someone =>Attendre quelqu’un (direct)

To look for someone => Chercher quelqu’un (direct)

To meet up with someone => Retrouver quelqu’un (direct)

=> je t’aime

=> j’aime te voir

Les 2 règles d’or (golden rules)

I love you

I love to see you

À vous maintenant...

/ Your turn now...

You are now ready for the Level 1 exercise of this course.

Level 1 focuses on getting used to placing the pronoun before the

verb. You can type in the full answer (eg. il me connait) or just

the pronoun (eg. me or ne me for negatives).

Any feedback and/or suggestions to improve this course will

always be welcome.

Bonne leçon!