LES PRONOMS OBJETS DIRECTS (P. O. D or D.O.

P)

Me (m’) – me Nous – us
Te (t’) – you Vous – you
Le (l’) – him, it Les – them
La (l’) – her, it

 The direct object is the noun, pronoun, phrase, or clause that is either the
target or result of an action.
 Use se in the third person with reflexive verbs. Singular or plural.
 D.O.P’s are placed:
o Before conjugated verbs. In compound tenses, they are placed before the
auxiliary verb.
o Before negative commands, but after affirmative commands. Use moi and
toi in place of me and te after an affirmative command.
o Before an infinitive.
 There is no contraction between à or de and a D.O.P.
 Past participles agree in gender and number with a preceding direct object
pronoun.
o Past participles conjugated with avoir
o Past participles of reflexive verbs

LES PRONOMS OBJETS INDIRECTS (P. O. I. or I. O. P)

Me (m’) – me Nous – us
Te (t’) – you Vous – you
Lui – him, her Leur – you

 I. O P’s in French are preceded by the preposition à.

 I. O. P’s take the place of indirect object nouns. They refer to the person or
animal that you (1) communicate with, (2) give something to, or (3) do
something for. I. O. P’s are identical to D. O. P’s except for the third person
singular and plural, in which lui replaces le and la, and leur replaces les.
 Use se in the third person with reflexive verbs
 The pronoun leur (invariable) should not be confused with the possessive
adjective leur, leurs.
 I. O. P’s are placed in the same place as D. O. P’s.
 Commonly used verbs that are followed by an indirect object (à + nom) in
French but a direct object in English include obéir, répondre, and téléphoner.
 Some common expressions that are often accompanied by both a direct object
and indirect object are: acheter, demander, dire, donner, écrire, emprunter,
envoyer, montrer, payer, poser une question, prêter, raconter une histoire, and
render visite.
LE PRONOM Y

 Y replaces phrases that begin with a preposition, such as à, en, dans, chez, sur,
etc., and indicate a place
 Y replaces à plus a thing or idea

LE PRONOM EN

The pronoun en takes the place of and object (noun or infinitive) that is preceded by
some form of de. En is also used if the noun is preceded by a quantity word or a
number (the quantity word or number is normally retained). En must be used even
when the English equivalent might be dropped. En is used with people only when it
is used with an expression of quantity.

L’ORDRE DES PRONOMS OBJETS

 Y and en are always the last pronouns in a series!

 Used after an imperative verb in the affirmative, the D. O. P precedes the
indirect object.

The following order is used for object pronouns before the verb:

Me Le Lui Y En
Te La Leur
Se Les
Nous
Vous

LE PRONOMS ACCENTUES

Stress pronouns (moi, toi, lui, elle, nous, vous, eux, elles) are used with the preposition
à to refer to people only after a few expressions: être à, faire attention à, penser à,
s’intéresser à

**Use y when an expression is followed by à if you are NOT referring to a person

Stress pronouns are usually used to refer to people after expressions ending in de:
parler de, avoir peur de, avoir besoin de, être content de

**Use en when an expression is followed by de if you are NOT referring to a person.

After all prepositions, stress pronouns are always used to refer to people.

They are used in a compound subject or in phrases without a verb. They are also
used for emphasis, after c’est/ce sont, in comparisons, with the suffix –meme(s), with
ni, and after ne...que.
** Penser à = meaning is that thoughts are directed toward something or someone
Penser de = used in questions asking someone’s opinion.