French Pronouns made EASY Part 1

French Pronouns give you nightmares. Or at least they’re a pill. Never know which one to choose! Is it “la” or “lui”??? Do I say “Je la comprends” or “Je lui comprends”?????? Somebody please HELP!!!

Relax. I’m here. French pronouns made easy part 1 & 2 not only cover French pronouns but make them easy. Oui oui je suis sérieuse!

I want to share with you a trick that French schools teach to French kids but that I’ve never seen in text books or classrooms here in the US! Watch the 2 episodes and it will make French pronouns so much easier I promise.

Vous êtes prêt?

This week is part 1: direct pronouns; next week will be part 2: indirect pronouns.

Now let’s pretend you are a French child learning these tricks in France, just like me… a few years ago!

We call it COD which stands for Complément d’Objet Direct. It sounds complicated but it’s so easy. Here’s an example in English so you follow me:

I eat an apple. an apple is the COD, it is the direct object.

Now how do you know for sure whether you are dealing with a direct object, like “an apple” here, or an indirect object, explained in our episode 2?

Easy. I learned that when I was 7 years old and it stuck with me all these years. If you can ask the questions “What?” or “Who?” then it’s a direct object. (“Quoi?” or “Qui?” in French)

I eat an apple. I eat what? an apple, an apple is your direct object.

I know Bruno. I know who? Bruno, Bruno is your direct object.

Now you want to replace this object by a pronoun so you avoid repeating yourself.

I eat an apple. I eat it. it is your pronoun.

I know Bruno. I know him. him is your pronoun.

The list of direct pronouns in French is: (watch the video for pronunciation)

me = me

te = you

la, le, l’ = her, him, it

nous = us

vous = you

les = them

Now I’m going to give you one example for each pronoun.

Michel me voit. Michel sees me. Michel sees who? Direct = me

Je te comprends. I understand you. I understand who? Direct = te

Je la mange (la pomme). I eat it. I eat what? Direct = la

Il le veut (le gateau). He wants it. He wants what? Direct = le

Nous l’adorons (l’opéra). We adore it. We adore what? Direct = l’

Il nous admire (les femmes françaises). He admires us. He admire who? Direct = nous

Elle vous aime (les étudiants). She loves you. She loves who? Direct = vous

Tu les cuisines (les légumes). You cook them. You cook what? Direct = les

And that was a lot of information so keep watching this video as many times as you need!

And stay tuned for next week’s part 2: indirect pronouns made easy with one simple question.

Mmmh I wonder what question that could be???…

#frenchdirectobjects #frenchpronouns #frenchindirectobjects #frenchconversation #frenchgrammar #speakfrench #understandfrench