| Luc: | Aujourd'hui, j'aimerais te parler des histoires qui ont bercé notre enfance. Es-tu partante ? |
| Catherine: | L'idée me plaît bien, Luc. Vas-tu nous parler des contes de fées ? |
| Luc: | On ne peut rien te cacher, Catherine. C'est notamment à Charles Perrault que nous devons de connaître ces histoires qui auparavant se transmettaient surtout oralement. |
| Catherine: | Comment lui est venue l'idée de collecter ces contes ? |
The Personal Pronouns Indirect Object replace nouns that function as indirect object in the sentence. They precede the verb and are used with intransitive verbs that take the preposition: à, au, aux. They answer the question: “À qui?” (To whom?) or “À quoi” (To what?).
Study the following example:
J’ai demandé à mon professeur la permission de sortir.
I asked my teacher for permission to leave.
Je lui ai demandé la permission de sortir.
I asked him for permission to leave.
“lui” is a personal pronoun that replaces “mon professeur” which functions as the indirect object in this sentence. It answers the following question: “’J'ai demandé à qui ? → à mon professeur.
Study the following example:
J’ai vu Sarah hier.
I saw Sarah yesterday.
Je l’ai vue hier.
I saw her yesterday
J’ai rendu à Sarah sa voiture.
I gave back Sarah her car.
Je lui ai rendu sa voiture.
I gave her back her car.
Je la lui ai rendue.
I gave it back to her.
You can see that in the sentence “Je l’ai vue hier”, the past participle agrees with the direct object which in this case is “Sarah” because it precedes the verb.
In the sentence “ Je lui ai rendu sa voiture.” “lui” is the personal pronoun indirect object that replaces “Sarah”. Notice that “rendu” doesn’t agree with “lui” even though it replaces in this sentence a feminine noun. This is simply because the indirect object doesn’t agree with the past participle whether it precedes it or follows it.
In the sentence “Je la lui ai rendue” , “la” replaces “sa voiture”. The past participle agrees with the personal pronoun direct object because it precedes it. When you ask the question “ Je rends quoi?”, the answer is “Je rends un livre”. Now if you ask the question “ Je rends un livre à qui?”, the answer is “Je rends un livre à Sarah”. Notice that when we want to replace both the direct object and the indirect object, we put the personal pronoun direct object before the personal pronoun indirect object.
More examples:
Mon père a acheté une belle montre à ma mère pour son anniversaire.
My father bought a beautiful watch for my mother for her birthday.
Il l’a achetée à ma mère pour son anniversaire .
He bought it for my mother for her birthday.
In this example, we replaced the subject “Mon père” with the personal pronoun subject “Il”. We also replaced the direct object “une belle montre” with the personal pronoun object “ l’ ” which is the contraction of “la”. Notice that in the sentence “ Il l’a achetée en à ma mère pour son anniversaire.”, the personal pronoun direct object “ ,b>l’ ” agrees with the past participle “achetée” and since “ une belle montre” is feminine, we added the “e” to “achetée”.
Mon père lui a acheté une belle montre pour son anniversaire.
My father bought her a nice watch for her birthday.
In this example, we replaced the indirect object “ ma mère” by the personal pronoun indirect object “ lui ”. Notice that the past participle “ acheté” doesn’t agree with the personal pronoun “ lui”, even though it replaces a feminine noun, because “lui” has the function of an indirect object, not that of a direct object.
More examples:
Aurélie et Chloé offrent toujours de beaux cadeaux à leurs parents.
Aurélie and Chloé always offer beautiful presents to their parents.
Elles leur offrent toujours de beaux cadeaux.
They always offer them beautiful presents.
Il vendra sa voiture à son frère ce week-end.
He will sell his car to his brother this weekend.
Il lui vendra sa voiture ce week-end.
He will sell it to him this weekend.
Il la lui vendra ce week-end.
He will sell it to him this weekend.
Voyons, achetez à votre fille ce jouet !
Come on, buy your daughter this toy!
Voyons, achetez-lui ce jouet !
Come on, buy her this toy!
N’envoyez pas des emails à vos amis.
Don’t send emails to your friends.
Ne leur envoyez pas des emails.
Don’t send them emails.
Je vais m’acheter cette robe pour le réveillon de Noël.
I will buy myself this dress for Christmas Eve.
Je vais me l’acheter pour le réveillon de Noël.
I will buy it to myself for Christmas Eve.
Study the following example:
J’ai demandé à mon professeur la permission de sortir.
I asked my teacher for permission to leave.
Je lui ai demandé la permission de sortir.
I asked him for permission to leave.
“lui” is a personal pronoun that replaces “mon professeur” which functions as the indirect object in this sentence. It answers the following question: “’J'ai demandé à qui ? → à mon professeur.
Personal Indirect Object Pronouns | |
| 1st person singular | me |
| 2nd person singular | te |
| 3rd person singular | lui |
| 1st person plural | nous |
| 2nd person plural | vous |
| 3rd person plural | leur |
Difference between the personal pronouns object and the personal pronouns indirect object
As you can see in the table above, the personal pronouns object and the personal pronouns indirect object are the same except for the third person singular (lui) and the third person plural (leur).Study the following example:
J’ai vu Sarah hier.
I saw Sarah yesterday.
Je l’ai vue hier.
I saw her yesterday
J’ai rendu à Sarah sa voiture.
I gave back Sarah her car.
Je lui ai rendu sa voiture.
I gave her back her car.
Je la lui ai rendue.
I gave it back to her.
You can see that in the sentence “Je l’ai vue hier”, the past participle agrees with the direct object which in this case is “Sarah” because it precedes the verb.
In the sentence “ Je lui ai rendu sa voiture.” “lui” is the personal pronoun indirect object that replaces “Sarah”. Notice that “rendu” doesn’t agree with “lui” even though it replaces in this sentence a feminine noun. This is simply because the indirect object doesn’t agree with the past participle whether it precedes it or follows it.
In the sentence “Je la lui ai rendue” , “la” replaces “sa voiture”. The past participle agrees with the personal pronoun direct object because it precedes it. When you ask the question “ Je rends quoi?”, the answer is “Je rends un livre”. Now if you ask the question “ Je rends un livre à qui?”, the answer is “Je rends un livre à Sarah”. Notice that when we want to replace both the direct object and the indirect object, we put the personal pronoun direct object before the personal pronoun indirect object.
More examples:
Mon père a acheté une belle montre à ma mère pour son anniversaire.
My father bought a beautiful watch for my mother for her birthday.
Il l’a achetée à ma mère pour son anniversaire .
He bought it for my mother for her birthday.
In this example, we replaced the subject “Mon père” with the personal pronoun subject “Il”. We also replaced the direct object “une belle montre” with the personal pronoun object “ l’ ” which is the contraction of “la”. Notice that in the sentence “ Il l’a achetée en à ma mère pour son anniversaire.”, the personal pronoun direct object “ ,b>l’ ” agrees with the past participle “achetée” and since “ une belle montre” is feminine, we added the “e” to “achetée”.
Mon père lui a acheté une belle montre pour son anniversaire.
My father bought her a nice watch for her birthday.
In this example, we replaced the indirect object “ ma mère” by the personal pronoun indirect object “ lui ”. Notice that the past participle “ acheté” doesn’t agree with the personal pronoun “ lui”, even though it replaces a feminine noun, because “lui” has the function of an indirect object, not that of a direct object.
More examples:
Aurélie et Chloé offrent toujours de beaux cadeaux à leurs parents.
Aurélie and Chloé always offer beautiful presents to their parents.
Elles leur offrent toujours de beaux cadeaux.
They always offer them beautiful presents.
Il vendra sa voiture à son frère ce week-end.
He will sell his car to his brother this weekend.
Il lui vendra sa voiture ce week-end.
He will sell it to him this weekend.
Il la lui vendra ce week-end.
He will sell it to him this weekend.
Voyons, achetez à votre fille ce jouet !
Come on, buy your daughter this toy!
Voyons, achetez-lui ce jouet !
Come on, buy her this toy!
N’envoyez pas des emails à vos amis.
Don’t send emails to your friends.
Ne leur envoyez pas des emails.
Don’t send them emails.
Je vais m’acheter cette robe pour le réveillon de Noël.
I will buy myself this dress for Christmas Eve.
Je vais me l’acheter pour le réveillon de Noël.
I will buy it to myself for Christmas Eve.
Rewrite the sentences using personal indirect object pronouns instead of the underlined parts of the sentences.
Example:
J’ai demandé à Julien de venir plus tôt.
Je lui ai demandé de venir plus tôt.
J’ai demandé à Julien de venir plus tôt.
Je lui ai demandé de venir plus tôt.
- Nos amis ont parlé au directeur de l’école.
- Je pose toujours de bonnes questions à mon prof mais il ne me répond jamais.
- Julie vendra sa voiture à ses voisins.
- Grand-maman raconte tous les jours de belles histoires à ses petits enfants.
- Murielle a acheté une belle robe à moi.
- Il a pris à Jaques toutes ses clefs !
- Nous faisons confiance à nos enfants.
- Il enverra une lettre à toi très bientôt.
- Le manque d’argent a posé beaucoup de problèmes à ses frères.
- Nous avons promis à nos amis que nous ne les oublierons jamais.
In each of the following sentences a wrong personal pronoun object has been used. Find and correct them.
- Ils l’ont demandé d’écrire une lettre au Président de la république.
- Nous les avons posé une question mais ils n’ont pas voulu répondre.
- Fais le confiance car il est très doué !
- Ne lui empêche pas de réclamer ses droits !
- Elle a vu sa mère hier mais elle ne l'a pas adressé la parole.
- Adeline a acheté un manteau à sa fille et le l’a offert pour son anniversaire.
- Mon fils me a préparé une bonne tasse de tisane.
- Ils nous ont toujours maltraités, pourtant nous ne les avons jamais fait de mal.
- Elle a finalement retrouvé ses filles et elle les a même parlé.
- Dis la qu’elle est toujours la bienvenue chez moi.