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TSR Wiki > Study Help > Subjects and Revision > Revision Notes > French > Complément d'objet direct

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Contents 1 Complément d'objet direct 1.1 Formation 1.2 Types of COD 1.3 Comments

Complément d'objet direct

The complément d'objet direct (COD) is the recipient of the action accomplished by an active verb. It defines itself as becoming the subject when a sentence is transformed into the passive voice.

J'ai salué mon frère (Mon frère is the complément d'objet direct). Mon frère a été salué (Mon frère is the subject, now that the sentence has been rewritten in the passive form).

It is, however, difficult sometimes to transpose a sentence into the passive, in which case the COD seperates itself from the COI by its formation WITHOUT a preposition (ie. à, de, etc.).

J'ai donné un cadeau à mon frère (à mon frère is a COI as it is formed with a preposition (à). This sentence also has a COD: un cadeau; which is formed without a preposition).

J'ai frappé mon copain (mon copain is a COD as it is formed without a preposition).

Formation

• The COD is formed without a preposition and is part of the verbal group.

• It is generally placed after the verb, except when used with a relative or interrogative pronoun (que).

Les chats que j'ai vus... (relative).
Qu'est-ce qu'on peut faire ? (interrogative).

• It can be replaced by a personal pronoun (me, te, se, nous, vous, etc., in which case it precedes the verb.

• In the imperative, the COD is joined to the verb with a hyphen and placed after.

Types of COD

A COD could be:

• A noun or nominal group

Je caresse le chat (noir).

• A pronoun

Je l'ai vue plusieurs fois.

• An infinitive

J'aimerais voir....

• A proposition complétive (completive clause)

Je sais que l'imparfait du subjonctif est le plus sexy des temps.

• A proposition infinitive (infinitive clause)

Je l'ai entendu conjuger le subjonctive imparfait (This sentence actually has two CODs; the other one being the pronoun "le").

Comments