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Grammar · Personal pronouns review

Direct Objects

While the subject of a sentence initiates an action (the verb), the direct object is the one that is affected by the action. A direct object pronoun is used to refer to the direct object of a previous sentence:

Pierre voit le cambrioleur.	Pierre sees the burglar.
Pierre le voit.	Pierre sees him.

The following table shows the various types of direct object pronouns:

French	me, m'	te, t'	le, l'	la, l'	nous	vous	les
English	me¹	you¹	him, it	her, it	us¹	you¹	them

Notes:

¹ me, te, nous, and vous are also used as indirect objects to mean to me, to you, to us, and to you respectively.
The pronoun form with an apostrophe is used before a vowel.
The direct object pronoun for nous and vous is the same as the subject.
When the direct object comes before a verb in a perfect tense, a tense that uses a past participle, the direct object must agree in gender and plurality with the past participle. For example, in the phrase Je les ai eus, or I had them, the past participle would be spelled eus if the direct object, les, were referring to a masculine object, and eues if les were referring to a feminine object.

Indirect Objects

An indirect object is an object that would be asked for with To whom...? or From whom...?. It is called indirect because it occurs usually together with a direct object which is affected directly by the action:

Il donne du pain à Pierre.	The man gives some bread to Pierre.
Il lui donne du pain.	He gives bread to him.

The following table shows the various types of direct object pronouns:

French	me, m'	te, t'	lui	nous	vous	leur
English	to me¹	to you¹	to him, to her	to us¹	to you¹	to them

Notes:

¹ me, te, nous, and vous are also used as direct objects to mean me, you, us, and you respectively.
The pronoun form with an apostrophe is used before a vowel.
The indirect object pronoun for nous and vous is the same as the subject.
The indirect object pronouns do not agree with the past participle like the direct object pronouns do. When me, te, nous, and vous are used in a perfect tense, the writer must decide whether they are used as direct or indirect object pronouns. This is done by looking at the verb and seeing what type of action is being performed.

The bread is given by the man (direct). Pierre gets the given bread (indirect).

The Pronoun Y

Indirect Object Pronoun - to it, to them

The French pronoun y is used to replace an object of a prepositional phrase introduced by à.

Je réponds aux questions. - J' y réponds.
I respond to the questions. - I respond to them.

Note that lui and leur, and not y, are used when the object refers to a person or persons.

Replacement of Places - there

The French pronoun y replaces a prepositional phrase referring to a place that begins with any preoposition except de (for which en is used).

Les hommes vont en France. - Les hommes y vont.
The men go to France - The men go there.

Note that en, and not y is used when the object is of the preposition de.

Idioms

Ça y est! - It's Done!
J'y suis! - I get it!

En

Note how we say Je veux du pain to say 'I want some bread' ? But what happens when we want to say 'I want some' without specifying what we want? In these cases, we use the pronoun 'en'. As well, 'en' can mean 'of it' when 'it' is not specified. For instance, instead of saying J'ai besoin de l'argent, if the idea of money has already been raised, we can just say 'J'en ai besoin'. This is because what en does is replace du, de la or des when there is nothing after it.

Like with 'me', 'te' and other pronouns, en (meaning 'some') comes before the verb.

Tu joues du piano? Non, je n'en joue pas	Do you play piano? No, I don't play it.
Vous prenez du poisson? Oui, j'en prends.	Are you having fish? Yes, I'm having some.
Vous avez commandé de l'eau? Oui, nous en avons commandé.	Did you order some water? Yes, we ordered some.

G: Commands with Pronouns - L'impératif

When expressing positive commands, there are several rules one must remember when using object pronouns. These are:

The pronouns are attached the verb with a hyphen.
- Retrouve-la. - Find it.
Me and Te become moi and toi.
- Donnez-moi les vidéos. - Give me the videos.
Le, la, and les precede all other object pronouns.
- Donnez-le-moi. - Give it to me.

G: Present Conditional

The present conditional tense is used to describe a hypothetical situation that would normally occur now. For example, it may be a hypothetical situation, a polite request, or an event that didn't happen as expected.

To conjugate a verb in the Conditional, one takes the infinitive and appends the same endings as when using the imparfait, as according to the table:

Subject	Add Ending	Conjugated Verb
Je	-ais	réussirais
Tu	-ais	réussirais
Il / Elle / On	-ait	réussirait
Nous	-ions	réussirions
Vous	-iez	réussiriez
Ils / Elles	-aient	réussiraient

V: Forms of Payment


argent (m)	/aʁ.ʒɑ̃/	money	Alex a perdu tout son argent au casino.	Alex lost all his money in the casino.
carte de crédit (f)	/kaʁt də kʁe.di/	credit card	Je pense qu'il a oublié sa carte de crédit.	I think he forgot his credit card.
liquide (m)	/li.kid/	cash	Cet homme a beaucoup de liquide sur lui.	This man has a lot of cash on him.
chèque (m)	/ʃɛk/	check	Je vais payer par chèque.	I'm going to pay by check.
transfert (m)	/tʁɑ̃s.fɛʁ/	transfer	Alice n'a pas encore fait le transfert.	Alice has not done the transfer yet.

V: Economics

V: Handling Money

V: Going to a Bank

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