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You are here: Home / French Grammar 102 Pronouns

French Grammar 102 Pronouns

Want to learn French, for free? Check out our online beginners’ French course. French Grammar 102 – pronouns

Pronouns are short words that replace things or people that have previously been mentioned in the speech or text, in order to avoid repetitions.

Personal Pronouns
In both French and English, personal pronouns replace people and are the subjects of the sentence (i.e. they do the action).

I / je
Je suis française – I am French

you / tu when informal
Tu es anglaise – You are English

he / il
Il est irlandais – He is Irish

she / elle
Elle est galloise – She is Welsh

you / vous when formal or plural
Vous êtes américains – You are Americans

we / nous
Nous sommes européens – We are Europeans

they / ils when masculine
‘Ils’ sont espagnols – ‘They’ are Spanish
and elles when feminine – ‘Elles’ sont italiennes – ‘They’ are Italian.

Note. 1. ‘Vous’ is used for the plural of ‘you’ as well as the formal way of addressing people, ‘tu’ being the informal form.
2.‘They’ has two translations according to the gender of whom or what we are talking about.
3. The neutral form ‘it’ does not exist in French. E.g. When replaced by a pronoun, ’la chaise’ (feminine) becomes ‘elle’ and ‘le fauteuil’ (masculine) becomes ‘il’.

Object Pronouns
Object pronouns, in both languages are complements as opposed to subjects. In English, ‘me’,’ you’,’ him’,’ her’ and ‘us’ replace people and ‘it’ and ‘them’ replace things. In French object pronouns are a little more complicated because there are 2 types of them: direct object pronouns and indirect object pronouns and because gender and number affect them.

Direct object pronouns
‘te’ (informal)
Je t’invite chez moi – I invite you at mine
‘vous’ (formal or plural)
Je vous invite à diner – I invite you for diner
‘me’
Elle m’invite au cinéma – She invites me to the cinema
‘nous’
Il nous sert à boire – He serves us a drink
‘les’ (plural things)
Nous les nettoyons – We clean them (shoes)
‘les’ (plural pers.)
Tu les vois chaque jour – You see them every day (your friends)
‘le’ (masc. sing. pers.)
Sophie le rejoint en ville – Sophie meets him in town (Paul)
‘la’ (fem. sing. pers.)
Sa mère la regarde jouer – Her mother watches her play
‘le’ (masc. sing. thing)
Pierre le cherche – Peter is looking for it (his mobile)
‘la’ (fem. sing. thing)
Alice la trouve sur le sofa – Alice finds it on the sofa (her key)
Note.
1. ‘me’ and ‘te’ drop their ‘e’ when the verb following them starts with a vowel.
2. ‘Le’ or ‘la’ can be ‘it’ if they replace things or ‘him’ and ‘her’ if they relate to people, they always change according to gender.
3. ‘You’ becomes ‘vous’ when formal and ‘te’ when informal.

Indirect object pronouns
Only 2 vary from the direct pronouns, ‘lui’ and ‘leur’. They are used only in relation to people and when the verb is usually followed by ‘à’ in the full sentence.
Examples:

Lui
Je donne un cadeau à mon père – I give a present to my father
With using a pronoun:
Je lui donne un cadeau – I give him a present

Leur
Il parle à ses parents – He talks to his parents
With using a pronoun:
Il leur parle – He talks to them

Important Note. In French, all pronouns are placed before the verb and not after like in English.

EXERCISE: 102 Pronouns | NEXT: 103 Nouns and adjectives

French Grammar Lessons

101 Articles
102 Pronouns
103 Nouns and adjectives
104 Demonstrative adjectives
105 Possessive adjectives
106 Verbs
107 Adverbs
108 Prepositions
109 Interrogative form
110 Negative form

French Grammar Exercises

French Exercise 101 – Articles
French Exercise 102 – Pronouns
French Exercise 103 – Nouns and Adjectives
French Exercise 104 – Demonstrative Adjectives
French Exercise 105 – Possessive Adjectives
French Exercise 106 – Verbs
French Exercise 107 – Adverbs
French Exercise 108 – Prepositions
French Exercise 109 – Interrogative Form
French Exercise 110 – Negative Form

French ‘easy reader’ and parallel text ebooks


French easy reader and parallel text ebooks

Ebooks for learning French Download FREE sample chapters!

French Listening Practice

Grammar-Focused French Listening Texts

French Listening 101 – Articles
French Listening 102 – Pronouns
French Listening 103 – Nouns and Adjectives
French Listening 104 – Demonstrative Adjectives
French Listening 105 – Possessive Adjectives
French Listening 106 – Present of Verbs
French Listening 107 – Adverbs
French Listening 108 – Prepositions
French Listening 109 – Interrogative Form
French Listening 110 – Negative Form

French Dialogues with Transcripts

French Dialogue 101 – Telephone
French Dialogue 102 – Clothes Shop
French Dialogue 103 – Restaurant
French Dialogue 104 – At the Doctor
French Dialogue 105 – Taxi
French Dialogue 106 – At the Bistro
French Dialogue 107 – Hotel
French Dialogue 108 – Tourism Office
French Dialogue 109 – Bus Station
French Dialogue 110 – Looking for a Place

Festivals français

L’Épiphanie
La Chandeleur
La Fête de la Musique
La Fête de la Saint-Jean
La Fête Nationale
La Toussaint
Mardi Gras
Noël
Pâques
Saint-Nicolas

Ma famille

Anne Marie
Chloé
Inés
Layla
Maggy
Manu
Roberta
Eve
Annie
Elsa

Une journée dans la vie

La journée de Brigitte
La journée de Camille
La journée de Cécile
La journée de Marie
La journée de Celine
La journée de la famille Dupont
La journée de Lucio
La journée de Marc et Sophie
La journée de monsieur Leblanc
La journée de Nicolas et Stéphanie

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French Conversation Prompts

Aliments et boissons
Amis et famille
Apprendre une langue étrangère
Education scolaire
Emotions
J’aime et je n’aime pas
Les choses qui t’énervent
Santé
Stéréotypes et préjugés
Travail et études
Culture
Est-ce que tu as déjà… ?
Et si…?
La technologie et toi
Le passé et le futur
Noël et Nouvel An
Qui es-tu ?
Superstition, croyances et destin
Tu es doué pour… ?
Voyager

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