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forms and uses
An indirect object is a person which receives the action of a verb indirectly.
In French the indirect object is always preceded by the preposition à and in English by the preposition 'to' :
Tex offre des fleurs à Tammy. (Tex gives flowers to Tammy.)
An indirect object pronoun indicates à + a person. In the sentence 'Tex offre des fleurs à Tammy',
'Tammy' is the indirect object. The indirect object pronoun that replaces 'à Tammy' is lui: Tex lui offre des fleurs.
(Tex gives flowers to her.) Following are the French indirect object pronouns:
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| me (to me) |
nous (to us) |
| te (to you) |
vous (to you) |
| lui (to him/to her) |
leur (to them) |
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In front of a word starting with a vowel, me and te become m' and t'.
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| Tammy: Tex, tu m'offres des fleurs? Et à Bette, tu lui offres des fleurs aussi, n'est-ce pas? |
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Tammy: Tex, you're giving me flowers? But Bette, you give her flowers, too, don't you? |
| Tex: Oui, mais je t'offre des fleurs plus souvent. |
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Tex: Yes, I give you flowers more often. |
| Joe-Bob: Tu leur as offert des fleurs, à toutes les deux! Bravo, quel tombeur! |
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Joe-Bob: You gave them both flowers! Bravo, what a womanizer! |
| Tammy: Paf! |
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Tammy: Pow! |
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placement
An indirect object pronoun is placed just before the verb of which it is 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.
Note that, in compound tenses (such as the passé composé), there is no agreement between the past participle and the indirect object.
In the affirmative imperative, the indirect object pronoun is placed after the verb it is the object of and attached to it by a hyphen.
In addition, me and te become moi and toi.
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| Tex: Regarde, quelqu'un m'a envoyé un cadeau. |
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Tex: Look, someone sent me a gift. |
| Tammy: Qui t'offre un cadeau? |
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Tammy: Who is giving you a gift? |
| Tex ouvre le cadeau. |
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Tex opens the gift. |
| Tex: Ahh, une bouteille de champagne! |
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Tex: Ahh, a bottle of champagne! |
| Tammy: Oh, regarde. Il y a une petite carte ... Bon anniversaire, mon petit tatou. Je compte partager cette bouteille ... et la vie avec toi. Avec toi? Mais, il n'y a pas de signature. Eh bien, monsieur, explique-moi! |
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Tammy: Oh, look. There is a little card ... Happy birthday, my little armadillo. I'm counting on sharing this bottle ... and life with you. With you? But, there's no signature. Well, now, sir, explain (this to) me. |
| Tex: Euh ... |
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Tex: Uh ... |
| Tammy: C'est bien cette petite chatte maline, n'est-ce pas? Je vais aller lui parler. |
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Tammy: It's that cunning little cat, isn't it? I'm going to go talk to her about it. |
| Tex: Ne lui parle pas! C'est une bagatelle, c'est un petit rien ... |
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Tex: Don't talk to her! It's a small thing, it's nothing ... |
| Tammy: Un petit rien? Paf! |
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Tammy: Nothing? Pow! |
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