Personal Pronouns Review

Direct Objects

While the subject of a sentence initiates an action (the verb), the direct object is the one that is affected by the action. A direct object pronoun is used to refer to the direct object of a previous sentence:

The following table shows the various types of direct object pronouns:

Notes:

• ¹me, te, nous, and vous are also used as indirect objects to mean to me, to you, to us, and to you respectively.
• The pronoun form with an apostrophe is used before a vowel.
• The direct object pronoun for nous and vous is the same as the subject.
• When the direct object comes before a verb in a perfect tense, a tense that uses a past participle, the direct object must agree in gender and plurality with the past participle. For example, in te phrase Je les ai eus, or I had them, the past participle would be spelled eus if the direct object, les, was referring to a masculine object, and eues if les is referring to a feminine object.

Indirect Objects

An indirect object is an object that would be asked for with To whom...? or From whom...?. It is called indirect because it occurs usually together with a direct object which is affected directly by the action:

The following table shows the various types of direct object pronouns:

Notes:

• ¹me, te, nous, and vous are also used as direct objects to mean me, you, us, and you respectively.
• The pronoun form with an apostrophe is used before a vowel.
• The direct object pronoun for nous and vous is the same as the subject.
• The indirect object pronouns do not agree with the past participle like the direct object pronouns do. When me, te, nous, and vous are used in a perfect tense, the writer must decide whether they are used as direct or indirect object pronouns. This is done by looking at the verb and seeing what type of action is being performed.

The bread is given by the man (direct). Pierre gets the given apple (indirect).

The Pronoun Y

Indirect Object Pronoun - to it, to them

The French pronoun y is used to replace an object of a prepositional phrase introduced by à.

• Je réponds à les questions. - J' y réponds.
• I respond to the questions. - I respond to them.

Note that lui and leur, and not y, are used when the the object refers the a person or persons.

Replacement of Places - there

The French pronoun y replaces a prepositional phrase referring to a place that begins with any preoposition except de (for which en is used).

• Les hommes vont en France. - Les hommes y vont.
• The men go to France - The men go there.

Note that en, and not y is used when the object is of the preposition de.

Idioms

• Ça y est! - It's Done!
• J'y suis! - I get it!

En

Note how we say Je veux du pain to say 'I want some bread' ? But what happens when we want to say 'I want some' without specifying what we want? In these cases, we use the pronoun 'en'. As well, 'en' can mean 'of it' when 'it' is not specified. For instance, instead of saying J'ai besoin de l'argent, if the idea of money has already been raised, we can just say 'J'en ai besoin'. This is because what en does is replace du, de la or des when there is nothing after it.

Like with 'me', 'te' and other pronouns, en (meaning 'some') comes before the verb.

Commands with Pronouns - L'impératif

When expressing positive commands, there are several rules one must remember when using object pronouns. Theses are:

• The pronouns are attached the the verb with a hyphen.
  
  • Retrouve-la. - Find it.
• Me and Te become moi and toi.
  
  • Donnez-moi les vidéos. - Give me the videos.
• Le, la, and les precede all other object pronouns.
  
  
  • Donnez-le-moi. - Give it to me.

Present Conditional

To conjugate a verb in the Conditional, one takes the infinitive and appends the same endings as when using the imparfait, as according to the table: