What are object pronouns in French?

Object pronouns are words used to replace the noun in a sentence. They are particularly useful to avoid repetition, and we use them all the time! In English, they are words like “me,” “him,” or “them.” In French, we have two types of object pronouns: direct and indirect. I know what you’re thinking: what does this mean? In this post, we’ll review both the direct and indirect object pronouns in French, as well as how to use them and where to place them in the sentence. Read on and I’ll walk you through it step by step.

The French direct object pronouns are me, te, le, la, nous, vous, and les, and they are used to replace the direct object in a sentence. First, let’s find out what the direct object is.

• In simple sentences, the direct object usually goes after the verb. A direct object can be a person, an animal, a thing, or an idea.

  subjectverbdirect object

  Charlotte lit un livre.

  Translation: Charlotte reads a book.

• We use direct object pronouns to avoid repeating the noun when the repeated word would be a direct object. For instance, you could say:

  Charlotte lit un livre. Elle lit un livre tous les soirs.

  Translation: Charlotte is reading a book. She reads a book every evening.

  To avoid repeating the second livre we can use a direct object pronoun:

  Elle le lit tous les soirs.

  Translation: She reads it every evening.

So, how do we know which pronoun to use? Let’s begin by learning the French direct object pronouns:

Once you have identified the direct object of the sentence, you are ready to replace it with a direct object pronoun. Let’s work through this example together.

• Step 1: Identify the direct object of the sentence by asking “what” or “whom.”

  What do I want? → le biscuit (meaning the cookie)

• Step 2: Identify the gender and number of the noun: le biscuit is masculine and singular.

• Step 3: Replace the direct object with the direct object pronoun. Le biscuit is “it” in English, so I use the pronoun le.

• Step 4: Make a new sentence! Here, you need to make sure you always place your direct object pronoun before the verb.

  Je le veux !

  Translation: I want it!

Now that you can recognize a direct object, recognizing an indirect object is a walk in the park!

The French indirect object pronouns are me, te, lui, nous, vous, and leur, and they are used to replace the indirect object of the sentence. How do you recognize the indirect object?

• Clue 1: It can only be a person or an animal.

• Clue 2: It has the preposition à or pour in front of it.

• Clue 3: It answers the question “to whom?” or “for whom?”

In the example above, I know that à sa sœur (meaning to her sister) is the indirect object, because the preposition à precedes the noun and sa sœur is a person, so it answers the question “to whom?”

When choosing the indirect object pronoun, ask yourself if the indirect object noun you are replacing is singular or plural. And I’ve got a scoop for you; gender doesn’t matter here!

Now follow the same steps as for the direct object pronouns. Let’s do an example together.

• Step 1: Identify the indirect object of the sentence by asking “to whom” or “for whom?”

  To whom will I give the cake? → à mon père

• Step 2: Identify if the noun is singular or plural: mon père is singular.

• Step 3: Replace the indirect object with the pronoun. Mon père is “him” in English, so I use the pronoun lui.

• Step 4: Make a new sentence! And I’m going to repeat myself… make sure you place your indirect object pronoun before the verb.

  Je lui donnerai le gâteau demain.

  Translation: I will give him his cake tomorrow.

As mentioned previously, place the object pronoun before the verb. However, there are some types of sentences where the pronoun can be a bit tricky to place. Here are the most common situations:

Sometimes, you will use a direct and an indirect object pronoun together in the same sentence, which will require you to use a specific ordering of French pronouns.

When using French object pronouns, remember these four important steps:

1. Identify your direct or indirect object in the sentence by asking: “whom/what?” for direct objects or “to whom/for whom?” for indirect objects.

2. Identify the gender and number of the person or thing you are replacing. For indirect objects, don’t worry about the gender!

3. Choose the correct pronoun.

4. Check the position of your pronoun depending on your sentence. In most cases, it will go before the verb.

To put your new skills to practice, check out our exercises to practice French direct and indirect object pronouns!