FRENCH NOTE 76 " LUI, LEUR"

FRENCH NOTE 76 INDIRECT OBJECT PRONOUNS " LUI, LEUR"


In this note , we will learn the use of INDIRECT OBJECT PRONOUNS in FRENCH .
Study the following sentences.
Je parle à mon ami.
I talk to my friend.
Je lui parle.
I talk to him.
À mon ami = lui= to him
Elle donne un cadeau à sa sœur .
She gives a gift to her sister.
Elle lui donne un cadeau.
She gives a gift to her. ( She gives her a gift )
À sa sœur = lui = to her
Vous avez téléphone à vos parents.
You telephoned your parents.
You telephoned them.
Vous leur avez téléphoné.
À vos parents = leur = to them.
In the above examples , kindly observe that the verbs take an object preceded by
the preposition " à". In other words , all the objects are indirect. Therefore, we require
indirect object pronouns to replace the indirect objects. It can easily. be seen
that the indirect object pronouns in French are " LUI and LEUR ".
" Lui" means " to him" or " to her "
" Leur" means " to them ".
The position of the INDIRECT OBJECT PRONOUNS is also immediately before the verb
as in the case of DIRECT OBJECT PRONOUNS.
There is one important difference between direct object pronouns and indirect object
pronouns . Indirect object pronouns can be used only for PERSONS. But DIRECT OBJECT
Pronouns can refer to either persons or things in French .
Hope you have grasped this topic.
Happy Learning !
Sayee Jayaraman
07/04/2015
Chennai