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A direct object is a noun following the verb that answers the questions 'what?' or 'whom?' Remember a pronoun replaces a noun,
and in this case the noun is a direct object. For example, Tammy might ask: 'Tex, will you kiss me tonight?', where the direct object pronoun 'me' stands for Tammy.
Whether a verb takes a direct object or not depends on whether the specific verb is transitive or intransitive.
forms and uses
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| direct object pronouns |
| me, me |
nous, we/us |
| te, you |
vous, you |
le, him/it
la, her/it
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les, them (masc./fem.) |
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In front of a word starting with a vowel, le and la become l';
me becomes m'; te becomes t'.
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| Tammy: Dis, tu m'appelles ce soir, Tex? |
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Tammy: Say, will you call me tonight, Tex? |
| Tex: Oui, ma belle, je t'appelle ce soir. |
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Tex: Yes, beautiful, I will call you tonight. |
| Corey: Edouard et moi, tu nous appelles ce soir, Tex? |
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Corey: Edouard and me, will you call us tonight, Tex? |
| Tex: Non, je ne vous appelle pas ce soir. |
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Tex: No, I will not call you guys tonight. |
| Joe-Bob: Moi, je peux les appeler ce soir! |
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Joe-Bob: I can call them tonight! |
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Direct object pronouns in French agree in number and gender with the nouns they replace.
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| Tex cherche le numéro de téléphone de Tammy. Enfin il le trouve et il l'appelle. |
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Tex looks for Tammy's phone number. Finally he finds it and he calls her. |
| Joe-Bob cherche les numéros d'Edouard et de Corey. Enfin il les trouve et il les appelle. |
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Joe-Bob looks for Edouard and Corey's phone numbers. Finally he finds them and he calls them. |
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Note that le/l' can replace an adjective or a verb.
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| Tex et Tammy sont amoureux? Oui, ils le sont. |
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Tex and Tammy are in love? Yes, they are. |
| Tex est quelquefois jaloux? Oui, il l'est. |
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Tex is sometimes jealous? Yes, he is. |
| Joe-Bob: Tu veux que j'appelle Tammy? |
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Joe-Bob: Do you want me to call Tammy? |
| Tex: Non, moi, je vais le faire. |
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Tex: No, I'll do it. |
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placement
Direct object pronouns precede the verb of which they are the object. In a composed tense (like the passé composé),
the pronoun precedes the auxiliary. In infinitive constructions, the pronoun goes immediately before the infinitive.
When the conjugated verb is negative, the ne precedes the object pronoun.
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| Tammy: Tex m'aime. |
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Tammy: Tex loves me. |
| Bette: Tex ne t'aime pas. |
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Bette: Tex does not love you. |
| Tammy: Tex va m'épouser. |
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Tammy: Tex is going to marry me. |
| Bette: Sois raisonnable, Tammy. Tex ne veut pas t'épouser. |
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Bette: Be reasonable, Tammy. Tex doesn't want to marry you. |
| Tammy: Mais si. Il l'a promis quand je l'ai rencontré à Lyon. |
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Tammy: Yes he does. He promised when I met him in Lyon. |
| Bette: Mais il ne m'avait pas encore rencontrée! |
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Bette: But he hadn't yet met me! |
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In the negative imperative, the pronoun follows the normal placement before the verb. However, in the affirmative imperative,
the object pronoun goes after the verb and is attached to it by a hyphen.
In addition, me and te become moi and toi.
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| Bette: Tex, embrasse-moi! |
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Bette: Tex, kiss me! |
| Joe-Bob: Attends, ne l'embrasse pas devant moi. Je m'en vais. |
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Joe-Bob: Wait, don't kiss her in front of me. I'm leaving. |
| Bette: Eh bien, il est parti. SMACK! |
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Bette: Eh bien, he's left. SMACK! |
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agreement of the past participle
The past participle agrees in gender and in number with a preceding direct object.
In other words, if the direct object pronoun is feminine, add an e to the end of the past participle;
if the pronoun is masculine plural, add an s (unless the past participle already ends in s);
if it is feminine plural, add es.
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| Un peu plus tard ... |
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A little later ... |
| Bette: Tammy? Tu sais, Tex m'a embrassée. |
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Bette: Tammy? Tex kissed me. |
| Tammy: Ce n'est pas vrai! |
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Tammy: That's not true. |
| Bette: Demande-lui. Il arrive. |
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Bette: Ask him. Here he comes. |
| Tammy: Tex, tu l'as embrassée, Bette? |
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Tammy: Tex, did you kiss her, Bette? |
| Tex: Qui? Bette? Mais non. Je ne l'ai pas embrassée. C'est elle qui m'a embrassé! PAF! Aie! |
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Tex: Who? Bette? Why no. I didn't kiss her. She kissed me! POW! Ow! |
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