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An Object Pronoun replaces the object noun in a sentence with a pronoun. These pronouns are
usually placed before the verb.
1.Complément d’Objets directs (COD) means Direct Object Pronoun:
Marie eats the cake.
Marie is subject, the cake is object. In English we replace the word cake by it.
Marie eats it.
Marie mange le gateau.
The word le gateau is replaced by ‘le’ (masculine) and it is placed before the verb.
Marie le mange.
Special case: When used with Impératif (positive order), the direct object comes after the verb. Eg.
Ouvre la porte! Ouvre-la! (Open the door, open it)
Appelle-moi! (Call me) Me becomes moi after the verb in imperative
Point of Grammar:
When a Past Participle follows a COD, it agrees in gender and number with the object.
Eg.a. J’ai perdu mes lunettes.
Je les ai perdues
The COD “les” refers to Lunettes which is feminine pluriel, so ‘e’ and ‘s’ are added to the Past
Participle, perdu.
Eg.b. Il a vu Marie hier.
Il l’a vue hier.
The COD l’ refers to Marie, hence ‘e’ is added to the Past Participle, vu.
Special case: When used with Impératif (positive order), the indirect object comes after the verb.
Eg. Parlez aux enfants! Parlez-leur! (Speak to the children, Speak to them!
Donnez-moi les stylos (give me the pens) Me becomes moi after the verb in imperatif
Direct Object Pronouns Indirect Object Pronouns As you can see in
Me – me Me- to me indirect object, the
Te- you Te- to you only difference is use
Le/la/l’ - him/her/it Lui- to him/to her of lui/leur in third
Nous-us Nous- to us person instead of
Vous –you (formal/plural) Vous – to you (formal or plural) le/la/l’/les for direct
Les -them Leur- to them object pronouns.
3. Tonique Pronouns.
Tonic or Disjoint pronouns are used for emphasis and in some special situations. They always refer
to a person.
They are used mainly:
• after prepositions such as: sans (without), pour (for), dans (inside), après (after), chez (at
someone’s place), avec (with), devant (in front), de (of, from)etc…
The tonic pronouns are as follows:
Moi = me Examples:
Toi = you Tu viens chez moi ? = You’re coming to my place?
Lui = him Non, je vais chez eux! = No, I’m going to their place!
Elle = her J’achète ce livre pour vous ! = I’m buying this book for you !
Soi = one Attention ! Devant toi, il y a une voiture ! = Careful! In front of you
Nous = us there is a car!
Vous = you Il est vraiment bête, lui ! = He is really stupid!
Eux = them (masc) Il parle d’elles . He speaks of them.
Elles = them (fem.)
5. Y (pronounced as ee)-
Y is a pronoun that replaces a place, usually a prepositional phrase beginning with à , chez , dans ,
etc. You can translate y by ‘there'.
Eg. Nous allons en France. Nous y allons. Vous allez dans le jardin. Vous y allez.
The other use of y is when a verb is followed by the preposition à before a noun (not a person
though).
Eg. Je pense à mes vacances. J’y pense.
Je participe à ce film. J’y participe
Special case. In Imperatif positif, put y after the verb. Eg. Allez au bureau! Allez-y!
ORDER OF PRONOUNS.
COI COD Y EN
Exception COD lui/leur Y EN
Eg. Il donne les gateaux à Nadine et moi. Il nous les donne. (nous is COI and les is COD)
Il donne les gateaux à Marc. Il les lui donne ( lui comes after the COD)
Il donne des gateaux à Marie Il lui en donne ( en comes after the COI)
Il y a des stylos. Il y en a (en comes after y)