Fiches de Grammaire #5 Flashcards
Object Pronouns
Direct and indirect objects
- Direct and indirect object pronouns generally precede the verbs of which they are objects.
- In a simple tense, such as the present, the futur, or the imparfait, the object pronoun is placed in front of the verb.
Object Pronouns
Direct object pronouns: What do they do?
Direct object pronouns directly receive the action of a verb
Examples:
Je l’aime (I love him or her)
Elle nous voient (They see us)
Object Pronouns
Indirect Object Pronouns: What do they do?
Indirect object pronouns identify to whom or for whom an action is done.
Examples:
Tu me parles? (Are you speaking to me?)
Elle vous a achéte une robe bleue? (She bought a blue dress for you?)
Direct Object Pronouns:
What are they? (6)
me/ m’
te/ t’
le/ la/ l’
nous
vous
les
Indirect Object Pronouns:
What are they? (6)
me / m’
te / t’
lui
nous
vous
leur
When a pronoun is the object of a compound tense, such as the passé composé
Where do you place it?
When a pronoun is the object of a compound tense, such as the passé composé, it is placed in front of the helping verb.
Examples:
Vous l‘avez attendu? (Did you wait for him/ it?)
Je lui ai envoyé une lettre (I sent him/her a letter).
When a pronoun is the object of an infinitive, where do you place it?
When a pronoun is the object of an infinitive, it is placed in front of the infinitive
Examples:
Nous voudrions t’inviter chez nous (We would like to invite you to our place)
Elle va leur écrire une carte postale. (She is going to write them a postcard)
Singular direct pronouns in the third person.
In the third person, singular direct pronouns have gender. The indirect object lui does not
The indirect objects lui and leur
Lui and Leur refer only to people and animals
Example:
Nous lui parlons (We are speaking to him/her)
Direct object pronouns le, la, and les
The direct object pronouns le, la, and les refer to people, animals, and things.
Examples:
Nous le voyons (We see him/it)
Nous la voyons (We see her/it)
Negation with Object Pronouns
In most negative sentences, place ne…pas around the object pronoun and the conjugated verb.
Examples:
Il ne m’aime pas (He doesn’t like me)
Je ne t’ai pas vu(e) (I didn’t see you)
Negation with Object Pronouns
(In sentences with infinitives)
In sentences with infinitives, ne…pas goes around the conjugated verb, but the object pronoun usually goes before the infinitive
Example:
Tu ne vas pas l’écouter (You are not going to listen to it)
Past Participle Agreement:
When the helping verb is être
- When the helping verb is être, the past participle agrees with the subject
- Examples:*
Anne est partie à six heures (Anne left at 6 o’clock)
Nous sommes arrivés en avance (We arrived early)
Past Participle Agreement:
Verbs that take être as the helping verb
- Verbs that take être as the helping verb usually do not have direct objects
- When they do, they take the helping verb Avoir, in which case there is no past participle agreement.
- Examples:*
Elle est sortie (She went out)
Elle a sorti la poubelle (She took out the trash)
Reflexive Verbs and the helping verb être
- Reflexive verbs take the helping verb être in compound tenses like the passé composé and plus-que-parfait.
- The past participle agrees with the reflexive pronoun if the reflexive pronoun functions as a direct object
- Examples:*
Nous nous sommes habillées (We got dressed)
Michèle s‘etait réveillée (Michelle had woken up)
If a direct object follows the past participle of a reflexive verb
If a direct object follows the past participle of a reflexive verb, no agreement occurs
Example:
Nadia s’est coupée (Nadia cut herself)
BUT
Nadia s’est coupé le doigt (Nadia cut her finger)
Indirect Object pronouns
- If an object pronoun is indirect, rather than direct, the past participle does not agree.
- This also means there is no past participle agreement with several common reciprocal verbs, such as se demander, s’écrire, se parler, se rendre compte, and se téléphoner.
- Examples:*
Elle nous a téléphoné (she called us)
Nous nous sommes téléphoné (We called each other)
Past Participle Agreement:
Compound Tenses with Avoir
- In compound tenses with Avoir, past participles agree with preceding direct object pronouns.
- No agreement occurs with a direct object that is a noun rather than a pronoun
- Examples:*
J’ai mis les fleurs sur la table (I put the flowers on the table)
Je les ai mises sur la table (I put them on the table)
Past Participle Agreements:
Structures that use the relative pronoun que
In structures that use the relative pronoun que, past participles agree with their direct objects
Examples:
Voici les pommes que j’ai achetées (Here are the apples that I bought)
Il parle des buts qu‘il a atteints (He’s talking about the goals he reached)
