To Write, To See, To Believe
Verbs take a direct object if they do not need a preposition
to connect it to the noun. Verbs that take indirect objects use prepositions
after the verb. Voir-to see (vwahr) and croire-to
believe (krwahr) take a direct and écrire-to write (ay-kreer)
takes an indirect.
| voir-to see | croire-to believe | écrire-to write | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| vois(vwah) | voyons(vwah-yohn) | crois (krwah) | croyons (krwah-yohn) | écris(ay-kree) | écrivons (ay-kree-vohn) | ||
| vois | voyez (vwah-yay) | crois | croyez (krwah-yay) | écris | écrivez (ay-kree-vay) | ||
| voit | voient (vwah) | croit | croient (krwah) | écrit | écrivent (ay-kreev) | ||
You can usually tell by using the verbs in English. We say "I see her"
or "She believes him" or "He writes to them." In French, it would
be "Je la vois" (direct), "Elle le croit" (direct) and "Il leur
écrit." (indirect) But don't always count on English to help
you out. Téléphoner (à) and Obéir
(à) both take indirect objects in French but you can't tell that
in English. In this case, you can tell by the à that
follows the infinitive.
This article was used with permission from:
Indo-European Languages