FRENCH NOTE 75 " me te, se, nous, vous , se" as Direct / Indirect PRONOUNS

FRENCH NOTE 75. DIRECT AND INDIRECT OBJECT PRONOUNS
Use of " me , te, se, nous , vous , se ".
This note is prepared on the request of a learner who has an exam tomorrow . I am trying my
best to make him / others understand .
How to say in French ,
You are looking at me.
Simple
Tu me regardes.
" me" in the above French sentence means the same as " me " in English . A strange
coincidence. In the French sentence " me " is a direct object.
Have you understood ?
How do I know ?
Tu regardes qui ?
Tu ME regardes.
So " me" is a direct object of the verb " regarder " .
But study another sentence given below.
Tu me parles.
You are talking to me.
Therefore in the French sentence given above , " me" means " to me" . Therefore
" me" in the French Sentence is an INDIRECT OBJECT . Why ?
The verb " parler " in the above French sentence is taking an indirect object.
Parler normally is followed by " à " which is a preposition .
It is always talking to someone.
So " me" is actually " to me " in English .
So the same pronoun " me" is DIRECT OBJECT PRONOUN in the first sentence
and INDIRECT OBJECT PRONOUN in the second sentence.
That depends on the verb only.
" Regarder" is transitive verb with direct object in French.
Regarder qqn -Looking at someone
But
" parler " is used as a verb which takes an indirect object . For verbs taking indirect
object, there will be a preposition after the verb and before the indirect object.
Parler à qqn - talking to somebody
So the French. " me" = " to me" in English .
Conclusion
Depending on the verb " me" is a Direct Object Pronoun or Indirect Object Pronoun.
Similarly , " te, se,nous, vous, se " are both Direct and INDiRECT object pronouns
depending on the verb.
They may mean
Me(m') ( to) me ,
Te ( t'). ( to) you
Se ( s') To himself, to herself ( se is used only in pronomial verbs)
Nous. (to) us, ourselves
Vous (To ) You ,Yourself
Se ( s' ). ( to) them , themselves ,to each other
Now study the following examples
1. Elle te parle .
She speaks to you.
" te" is Indirect Object Pronoun.
2. Elles se parlent .
They talk to each other. ( to themselves )
Here " se" is an Indirect Object Pronoun.
3. Elle nous parle.
She speaks to us .
Here. " nous" is an Indirect Object Pronoun.
4. Elle vous parle.
She speaks to you.
Here " vous " is an Indirect Object Pronoun.
5. Elle se parle.
She talks to herself.
Here " se" is an Indirect Object Pronoun.
6. Elle me regarde.
She watches me.
7. Elle te regarde.
She watches you.
8. Elle se regarde.
She watches herself.
9. Elle nous regarde.
She watches us.
10. Elle vous regarde.
She watches you.
11. Elles se regardent .
They watch each other ( themselves )
It is easy to see that in the sentences from 6 to 11, where the verb is " regarder"
all the object pronouns are DIRECT OBJECT PRONOUNS.
Hope you understood the basics of the use of these six pronouns. Remember they
can be used only for persons and not things. They are both direct object pronouns and i
Indirect object pronouns depending on the verb.
While using direct object, the question of agreement with past participle when the
direct object comes before the past participle arises . That requires a separate note.
First master this note.
Happy Learning !
Sayee Jayaraman
07/04/2015
Chennai