French - le, la, les, leur, lui etc.

wesetters

Thank you, at last a nice grammary thread :cool:

lui, leur, les, le, la are all used to replace a complément d'objet.

example (CO in red) : J'écris ma dissertation.

The CO describes the object which has the action done to it. If the CO is introduced by à or de, it's a complément d'objet indirect. If it doesn't, it's a complément d'objet direct.

Le, la and les are used to replace CODs. Lui and leur are used to replace COIs.

Je lui ai donné mon stylo = j'ai donné mon stylo à Emile (or any other person (or just use lui)).

Lui is singular. Leur is plural. Je leur ai parlé = j'ai parler à Emile et Suzanne (or eux).

Le, la, l' and les replace CODs.

Je l'aime = J'aime Dorothée
Je les adore = j'adore les bonbons
Je le donne de bon coeur = Je donne le biscuit de bon coeur
Je la conduis pour aller vite = je conduis la voiture pour aller vite

If that's not clear enough, ask again and someone more competent will probably reply :p:

OK so basically, lui/leur/eux is used when the verb has an 'a' or 'de' after it, yes? E.g. donner a, essayer de?

So I give him a bike = je lui donne un VTT?

Where as if the verb doesn't have 'a' or 'de', it's le/les/la/l'? :confused:

so aimer, trouver, aller?

Can you confirm please :smile:

Thanks for your help :love:

Reply 2

im-no-superman

Hey OP....my amazing French textbook says:

Direct Object Pronouns replace a noun that is the object of the verb, it has the action done to it DIRECTLY.

So..
me me
te you
le him
la her
nous us
vous you
les them

(Obviously with the first three they go to m' t' and l' in front of words beginning with vowels or silent h's.)

An Indirect Object Pronoun replaces a noun (usually a person) that is the object of the verb (..but linked to the verb by a preposition- usually a (with acute accent that i dontknow how to do on here) )

So...
me/m' to me
te/t' to you
lui to him
lui to her
nous to us
vous to you
leur to them

Dont know if that helps at all.

Reply 3

Carl

Fair do's Will, post #2 is ace. I've never understood the whole COD/COI thing, I think I might finally get it.

Reply 4

wesetters

Generally you've got it there. eux isn't a direct object pronoun there, it just means them.

A lot of verbs use both - je donne quelque chose à quelqu'un has a COD (quelque chose) and a COI (à quelqu'un. So I could say "je le lui donne" (meaning I gave him it). Aller is generally used with a COI, not a COD. But you've got the idea, you just need to remember which verbs use COI and COD, and in which forms, and I'm afraid it's a question of just learning them.

thank you

since you're being really helpful, this sounds like such a dunce question but can you please explain "cela"? i was never taught it and i don't know what it is :s-smilie:

i shall rep you tomorrow :hugs:

Reply 5

Carl

"Cela" just means "it", and is only used when writing. Where you'd say "ça", you would write "cela".

Reply 6

ceci = this thing here
cela = that thing there

cela contracts to ca, with a cedilla that i can't be arsed to type.

Regarding leur and lui, the explanations above are brilliant. For me, I tend to remember that they are used if the verb includes a 'to', ie in German would be dative. :biggrin:

For example, you say 'donner à', which is 'to give TO'...the to means that it's going to be 'lui' or 'leur'.

Not sure if that's clear, but thems my two pennies.

Reply 7

Thanks everyone :smile:

Reply 8

Vesta

so aimer, trouver, aller?

Can you confirm please :smile:

Thanks for your help :love:

With 'de' however, you should use 'en' as your indirect object pronoun. For example if you wrote "j'ai beaucoup de bonbons" you could change that to "j'en ai beaucoup" :smile:

Reply 9

gooner1592

With 'de' however, you should use 'en' as your indirect object pronoun. For example if you wrote "j'ai beaucoup de bonbons" you could change that to "j'en ai beaucoup" :smile:

Thanks

I never knew how the 'en' was used :redface:

Reply 10

Vesta

Thanks

I never knew how the 'en' was used :redface:

Don't worry about it. It's quite simple to learn really :smile:

In fact, click here, and scroll to the middle of the page and it gives you a nice concise summary of what it's all about :smile:

Reply 11

gooner1592

Don't worry about it. It's quite simple to learn really :smile:

In fact, click here, and scroll to the middle of the page and it gives you a nice concise summary of what it's all about :smile:

thanks, it's helpful :love:

Reply 12

No problem :wink:

Reply 13

of course, the same is true with 'à' and 'y'

eg:

Je m'intèresse à faire de la natation

becomes

Je m'y intèresse (I'm interested in IT)

Reply 14

Eien

In addition, when you use le/la/les to replace an object in the past tense, even with the avoir conjugation, the past participle has to be conjugated accordingly e.g. if you want to say "J'ai ecrit une lettre" you would say "Je l'ai ecrite" or with several letters, "Je les ai ecrites". Also "leurs" is used when referring to a plural, e.g. "leurs livres". Hope that helps!

Yeah, yeah, I know I didn't use accents, but I can't write them on this bloody computer :p:

Reply 15

^ does it end with an 's' if it's the accusative? like 'le leur', meaning theirs, could be 'les leurs' if plural?

Reply 16

jonnythemoose

^ does it end with an 's' if it's the accusative? like 'le leur', meaning theirs, could be 'les leurs' if plural?

I think that's a different matter altogether. I think you're on about possessive pronouns, such as 'le(s) mien(s)/le(s) mienne(s)'

Reply 17