mercredi 13 mars 2013

Pronouns - Part 3: Direct and Indirect Object Pronouns

Using Direct and Indirect Object Pronouns together

The order is always thus:

                                 1             2
                                 le (l')       lui
                                 la (l')       leur
                                 les
 
PRESENT TENSE
La serveuse donne le café au monsieur
The waitress gives the coffee to the gentleman
 
La serveuse le lui donne
The waitress gives it to him
 
 
PERFECT TENSE
La serveuse a donné le café au monsieur
The waitress gave the coffee to the gentleman
 
La serveuse le lui a donné
The waitress gave it to him
 
 
 
PRESENT TENSE
 
La grand-mère prépare la soupe pour sa petite-fille
Grandmother prepares the soup for her granddaughter
 
La grand-mère la lui prépare
Grandmother prepares it for her
 
 

PERFECT TENSE
La grand-mère a préparé la soupe pour sa petite-fille
Grandmother prepared the soup for her granddaughter  
 
La grand-mère la lui a préparée
Grandmother prepared it for her


PRESENT TENSE

La professeur donne les devoirs aux élèves
The teacher gives the homework to the pupils

La professeur les leur donne
The teacher gives it to them (...gives them it)


PERFECT TENSE

La professeur a donné les devoirs aux élèves
The teacher gave the homework to the pupils

La professeur les leur a donnés
The teacher gave it to them (...gave them it)


PRESENT TENSE
Le monsieur dit.....
The gentleman says.....
"La serveuse me donne le café"
The waitress gives the coffee to me / The waitress gives me the coffee
PERFECT TENSE
Le monsieur a dit....
The gentleman said....
La serveuse me l'a donné 
The waitress gave it to me 
PRESENT TENSE

La grand-mère dit à sa petite-fille....
Grandmother says to her granddaughter.....
"Je te prépare la soupe"
I am preparing the soup for you
 
 
 
PERFECT TENSE
 
La grandmère a dit à sa petite-fille...
Grandmother said to her grand-daughter....
J'ai préparé la soupe pour toi
I prepared the soup for you
 
 Je te l'ai préparée
I prepared it for you
 
 
PRESENT TENSE

La professeur dit aux élèves....
The teacher says to the pupils...
"Je vous donne les devoirs"
I am giving you the homework
 
Je vous les donne
I am giving it to you
PERFECT TENSE
La professeur a dit aux élèves....
The teacher said to the pupils....
Je vous ai donné les devoirs
I gave you the homework
 
Je vous les ai donnés
I gave it to you
PRESENT TENSE
Les élèves disent à la professeur.....
The pupils say to the teacher...
"Vous nous donnez les devoirs"
You are giving us the homework
 
Vous nous les donnez
You are giving it to us
PERFECT TENSE
Les élèves ont dit à la professeur....
The pupils said to the teacher....
Vous nous avez donné les devoirs
You gave us the homework
 
Vous nous les avez donnés
You gave it to us
 
PRESENT TENSE
 Il vend des chaussures à la dame
He sells the lady some shoes
 
Il les lui vend
He sells them to her
 
 
PERFECT TENSE
Il a vendu des chaussures à la dame



He sold the lady some shoes
Il les lui a vendues
He sold them to her

 

 



 
 
 

mardi 12 mars 2013

Pronouns - Part 2: lui, leur

In this post we are going to look at Indirect Object Pronouns:
 
lui   = to (for) him or her
leur = to (for) them 
 

With indirect object pronouns, there are no past participle agreements 
 
 
 
PRESENT TENSE 
La serveuse donne le café au monsieur
The waitress gives the coffee to the gentleman /... gives the gentleman the coffee  
 
La serveuse lui donne le café
The waitress gives the coffee to him / The waitress gives him the coffee
 
 
PERFECT (PAST) TENSE
 
La serveuse a donné le café au monsieur
The waitress gave the coffee to the gentleman
 
La serveuse lui a donné le café
The waitress gave him the coffee
 
 
 
PRESENT TENSE
 
La grand-mère prépare la soupe pour sa petite-fille
Grandmother prepares the soup for her granddaughter
 
La grand-mère lui prépare la soupe
Grandmother prepares the soup for her
 
 
PERFECT (PAST) TENSE
La grand-mère a préparé la soupe pour sa petite-fille
Grandmother prepared the soup for her granddaughter
 
La grand-mère lui a préparé la soupe
Grandmother prepared the soup for her 
 
 
 
 PRESENT TENSE
 
La professeur donne les devoirs aux élèves
The teacher gives the homework to the pupils 
 
La professeur leur donne les devoirs
The teacher gives the homework to them / The teacher gives them the homework
 
 
PERFECT (PAST) TENSE
La professeur a donné les devoirs aux élèves
The teacher gave the homework to the pupils
 
 La professeur leur a donné les devoirs
The teacher gave them the homework
 
 
 
me (m')    =  to (for) me
te (t')       =   to (for) you (singular, familiar)
nous         =   to (for) us
vous         =  to (for) you (plural, polite) 
 
 
PRESENT TENSE
 
Le monsieur dit.....
The gentleman says.....  
"La serveuse me donne le café"
The waitress gives the coffee to me / The waitress gives me the coffee
 
 
PERFECT (PAST) TENSE
 
Le monsieur a dit....
The gentleman said....
 La serveuse m'a donné le café
The waitress gave me the coffee
 
 
 
PRESENT TENSE
 
La grand-mère dit à sa petite-fille....
Grandmother says to her granddaughter.....
"Je te prépare la soupe"
I am preparing the soup for you
 
 
PERFECT (PAST) TENSE
 
La grand-mère a dit à sa petite-fille....
Grandmother said to her granddaughter....
 
Je t'ai préparé la soupe
I prepared the soup for you 
 
 
 PRESENT TENSE
 
La professeur dit aux élèves....
The teacher says to the pupils...
"Je vous donne les devoirs"
I am giving you the homework
 
 
PERFECT (PAST) TENSE
 
La professeur a dit aux élèves....
The teacher said to the  pupils.... 
 Je vous ai donné les devoirs
I gave you the homework
 
 
 PRESENT TENSE
 
Les élèves disent à la professeur.....
The pupils say to the teacher...
"Vous nous donnez les devoirs"
You are giving us the homework
 
 
PERFECT (PAST) TENSE
 
Les élèves ont dit à la professeur....
The pupils said to the teacher....
Vous nous avez donné les devoirs
You gave us the homework 
 
To telephone someone in French is téléphoner à.  If a verb is followed by à then you need to use an indirect object pronoun
 
Exemple:
 PRESENT TENSE
David Cameron téléphone à Barack Obama
David Cameron telephones Barack Obama
 
David Cameron lui téléphone
David Cameron telephones him 
 
 
PERFECT (PAST) TENSE
David Cameron a téléphoné à Barack Obama
David Cameron telephoned Barack Obama
 
David Cameron lui a téléphoné
David Cameron telephoned him
 
 
 

 
 




Pronouns - Part 1: le, la , l' , les

Here follows a résumé of the work we have being doing on object pronouns over the past few weeks:
 
Direct Object Pronouns
le or  l'  =   him / it
la or  l'  =   her / it
les         =  them
 
In French, object pronouns come before the verb.
 
Exemple:
 
 
 
 
                                           Je prépare le dîner = I am preparing dinner
                                           Je le prépare          = I am preparing it
 
 
 
 
                                   Nous regardons la télé       We are watching t.v.
                                   Nous la regardons            We are watching it
 
 
 
                                  Il fait ses devoirs = He is doing his homework
                                  Il les fait             = He is doing it (them)
                                 
                                  N.B. homework (les devoirs) is plural in French
 
 
 
 
 
                                         Il met ses chaussures =  He puts on his shoes
                                         Il les met                  =  He puts them on
                                       
                                          
When talking in the past, if you use the perfect tense the pronoun comes before the auxiliary verb (avoir or être)
 
Exemple:
 

                                           J'ai préparé le dîner  = I prepared dinner
                                           Je l'ai préparé           = I prepared it

Notice that le and la both become l' before a vowel
 
 
                           Nous avons regardé la télé  = We watched t.v.
                           Nous l'avons regardée         = We watched it
 
                   
                                   Il a fait ses devoirs = He did his homework 
                                   Il les a faits            = He did it (them)  

      
 
                                          Il a mis ses chaussures = He put on his shoes
                                          Il les a mises               = He put them on
 
The eagle-eyed among you will have noticed that some past participles have changed. This is not an essential grammar point for those who just want to get by conversationally, but if you are someone who needs to understand this things, read on......
 
 
MY GRAMMAR TOOLBOX
 
Direct Object Pronouns
 
le, la, l' and les used before the verb are direct object pronouns. The past participle must agree with the preceding direct object pronoun.
 
This means that if the preceding direct object pronoun is feminine singular, the past participle takes an extra e.
 
Exemple 
Nous avons regardé la télé 
Nous l'avons regardée  
 
If the preceding direct object pronoun is masculine plural, then the past participle takes an s.
 
Exemple
Il a fait ses devoirs 
Il les a faits     

If the preceding direct object pronoun is feminine plural, then the past participle takes an e and an s

Exemple
Il a mis ses chaussures 
Il les a mises