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???…
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