A pronoun will replace a noun. In French, there are different types. You can have subject pronouns, direct object pronouns, indirect object pronouns, tonic pronouns, the pronoun “Y” and to finish “EN”. Let’s see these pronouns in French in this article.
Subject pronouns in French
When the nouns you are replacing is the subject of the sentence.
Je (I)
Tu (you)
Il/Elle (he/she)
Nous (we)
Vous (you)
Ils/Elles (they)
Example:
Lisa et Paul vont à la plage. (Lisa and Paul are going to the beach)
Ils vont à la plage.
Direct object pronouns
Is the person, the thing receiving the action of the verb.
You can find it by asking: who?/what?
Me (me)
Te (you)
Le/La (him/her/it)
Nous (us)
Vous (you)
Les (them)
Example:
Nous faisons la vaiselle. (We do the washing up.)
Ask yourself: “We do what?”, “la vaiselle” so it will be replaced by “la”.
Nous la faisons.
The pronoun is always placed before the verb.
In negative sentence, it is place before the verb but between “ne pas”.
Nous ne la faisons pas.
Indirect object pronouns
Is always a living thing and it receives the action of the verb indirectly.
It is always preceded by the preposition “à”.
Me (to/for me)
Te (to/for you)
Lui (to/for him/her)
Nous (to/for us)
Vous (to/for you)
Leur (to/for them)
Example:
L’enseignante donne un cours à son élève. (The teacher gives a lesson to her student.)
L’enseignante lui donne un cours.
Tonic pronouns in French
Refers only to people. It is used in short answers.
They are used:
-After other than “à”:
Ils sont venus chez moi. (They came at home.)
-When there are two subjects:
Anna et moi allons faire du shopping. (Anna and I are going to do shopping.)
-Alone, to emphasis or when answering to a question:
Tu vas au cinéma demain? (Are you going to the cinema tomorrow?)
Moi? (Me?)
Oui, avec mes amies. (Yes, with my friends.)
-When using “même”:
Lui-même (himself)
-After “c’est” or “ce sont”:
Ce sont eux qui chantaient. (It was them who were singing.)
-Sometimes after the preposition ” à” or verbs like “penser à” (to think about):
Il pense à elle. (He thinks about her.)
Ce bureau est à moi. (That desk is mine.)
Moi (me)
Toi (you)
Lui (him)
Elle (her)
Soi (one)
Nous (us)
Vous (you)
Eux (they/them)
Elles (they/them)
The pronoun “Y”
To replace phrases introduced by a preposition other than “de”.
When “y” replaces a preposition and a location, it is translated as “there” in English.
Examples:
Nous allons au marché demain. (We are going to the market tomorrow.)
Nous y allons.
Tu ne réponds pas à mes appels. (You do not answer to my calls.)
Tu n’y réponds pas.
“EN”
To replace phrases introduced by the preposition “de”.
When “en” is used with numbers, we keep the number in the sentence.
Examples:
Ils ont trop de baguettes. (The have too many baguettes.)
Ils en ont trop.
Nous avons un chat. (We have one cat.)
Nous en avons un.
Je vis de ma passion. (I live from my passion.)
J’en vis.
You might be interested by this article
Past participle of reflexive verbs