What is the order of object pronouns in French?

French object pronouns almost always come in a particular order relative to each other and relative to other words in the sentence. Most importantly, when we use more than one object pronoun in a sentence, some object pronouns (such as me, te, nous, vouswill always come before others (like le, la, les).

French object pronouns are a great tool to reduce repetition because they replace the direct object or indirect object of a sentence.

But can you spot a difference between the French and the English?

Unlike English, French object pronouns are usually placed before the verb. You’ll want to commit this structure to memory:

But what happens in other kinds of sentences, like commands, or when you are using several pronouns within one sentence? Read on and find out! In this post, we’ll review how to order direct and indirect object pronouns in French, along with how to order pronouns in negative sentences and sentences with two verbs. Let’s take a look!

To order French direct object pronouns and indirect object pronouns, there’s a particular sequence to follow. When using pronouns, here are the two paths to take (depending on how many pronouns you are using):

• Place the object pronoun before the verb if you are using one object pronoun only.

  Il m’aime.

  Translation: He loves me.

  Je le veux.

  Translation: I want it.

  Tu nous emmènes ?

  Translation: Are you taking us?

  Tu l'as pris en photo ?

  Translation: Did you take a picture of it?

• If you use two different object pronouns (and usually you only use a maximum of two within a sentence), here is the order to follow:

  SUBJECT

  

  me
  te
  nous
  vous

  

  le
  las
  les

  

  lui
  leur

  

  y
  en

  

  VERB

Check out this fun horsey song (aka, the finale to Rossini’s “William Tell Overture”) to memorize the pronoun order!

In a French negative sentence, always place the pronoun after ne (not). C’est facile, non? (meaning It’s easy, isn’t it?). And you're going to love this: it works in all tenses, and in the imperative!

This article has some examples of negative sentences with object pronouns.

There are also rules for placing object pronouns when it comes to sentences made up of two verbs in French.

• Certain verbs, like vouloir (meaning to want), pouvoir (meaning to be able to, can), or aimer (meaning to love) are followed by a French infinitive verb. We call them semi-auxiliary verbs. In this situation, the object pronoun goes between the conjugated semi-auxiliary verb and the infinitive verb.

  • Je veux leur rendre visite à Pâques.

    Translation: I want to visit them at Easter.
    Nous pouvons les apprendre par cœur !

    Translation: We can learn them by heart!
    Il aime lui offrir des fleurs.

    Translation: He loves offering her flowers.

  It is the same when you use:

  • the near future: "I'm going to verb"
    aller(present tense) + object pronoun + infinitive
    

    Je vais le lui dire.

    Translation: I’m going to tell (it) to him

  • the recent past: "I've just verbed"
    venir(present tense) + de + object pronoun + infinitive

    Elle vient de vous les vendre.

    Translation: She has just sold them to you.

Here is a list of common French semi-auxiliary verbs.

When using multiple object pronouns in French, remember the rules as they are summarized in the list below:

• Using one pronoun:

  subject

  

  pronoun

  

  verb

• Using double pronouns in all tenses but the imperative affirmative
  
  

  SUBJECT

  

  me
  te
  nous
  vous

  

  le
  las
  les

  

  lui
  leur

  

  VERB

• Using the imperative affirmative

  Verb

  le
  la
  les

  moi
  toi
  nous
  vous
  

• Using a negative structure:

  ne

  

  pronoun

  

  verb

  

  pas

• Using semi-auxiliaries:

  subject

  

  semi auxiliary

  

  pronoun

  

  infinitive verb

Are you feeling confident about using double object pronouns? Test your skills with our exercises on ordering object pronouns in French!