This document provides an overview of direct and indirect objects in French. It explains that direct objects directly receive the action of the verb, while indirect objects indicate someone or something that is indirectly affected by the verb's action. The document then gives examples of sentences with direct and indirect objects in both English and French. It introduces direct and indirect object pronouns in French and the rules for using them, such as agreement with the replaced noun and placement before the verb.

2.  These are the replacement words we use instead
of naming things - “I see Jane” becomes “I see
her”, “we eat cake” becomes “we eat it”

3.  There are two types of objects
◦ Direct Objects
◦ Indirect Objects
 We are going to use the following sentence as a
model for the rest of the lesson:
◦ Georges throws the ball to Jean.

4.  Indirect means ‘when there IS someone or
something in the way’, usually indicated by the
word or sense of TO
 So - “he talks to me”
What’s the difference?What’s the difference?

Je t’aime mon amour!

5.  Direct literally means ‘when there’s no-one or
nothing in the way’
 So - he kisses me.

6.  Direct objects DIRECTLY receive the action of the
verb.
 Direct objects answer the question what or whom.
 Let’s go back to our model:
◦ Georges throws the ball to Jean.
 What does Georges throw?
 The ball! The ball is the direct object.

7.  Try the following:
 Caroline writes the letter to her Grandma.
◦ Direct object: the letter
 Mathieu is going to read books to his sister.
◦ Direct object: books
 The teacher speak French.
◦ Direct object: French

8.  Direct object pronouns replace direct objects.
 In English the direct object pronouns are: me, you,
it, him, her, us, them.
 Let’s go back to our sentence:
◦ Georges throws the ball to Jean.
◦ Direct object: the ball
◦ Pronoun to replace the ball: it
◦ George throws it to Jean.

9.  Try the following:
 Caroline writes the letter to her Grandma.
◦ Direct object: the letter
 Replaced with: it (Caroline writes it to her Grandma.)
 Mathieu is going to read books to his sister.
◦ Direct object: books
 Replaced with: them (Mathieu is going to read them to his sister.)
 The teacher speaks French.
◦ Direct Object: French
 Replaced with: it (The teacher speaks it.)

10.  The direct object pronouns in French are:
◦ Me (me)
◦ Te (you [tu])
◦ Le (him/it—masculine, singular)
◦ La (her/it—feminine, singular)
◦ Nous (us)
◦ Vous (you—vous form)
◦ Les
 There are two rules you must follow when using object
pronouns in French:
1. Object pronouns must agree with the noun they are replacing
2. Object pronouns go before the verb they are linked to.
Remember, le and la
become l’ before a
vowel!

11.  Let’s translate our sentence into French:
◦ Georges throws the ball to Jean.
◦ Georges lance le ballon à Jean.
 If ball is the direct object in English, what is the
direct object in French:
◦ Le ballon
 Le ballon is masculine singular, therefore we
must use LE to replace le ballon.

12. Georges lance à Jean.
Georges lance à Jean.
Georges lance à Jean.
le ballonle ballon
(le)(le)
lele

13.  Caroline écrit la lettre à sa grand-mère.
◦ Caroline l’écrit à sa grand-mère.
 Mathieu va lire les livres à sa soeur.
◦ Mathieu va les lire à sa soeur.
 Le prof parle le français.
◦ Le prof le parle.

14.  The indirect object pronouns in French are:
◦ Me (to me)
◦ Te (to you [tu])
◦ Lui (to him/it/her)
◦ Nous (to us)
◦ Vous (to you—vous form)
◦ Leur (to them)
1. Object pronouns go before the verb they are linked to.

15.  Caroline écrit la lettre à sa grand-mère.
◦ Caroline lui écrit la lettre.
 Mathieu va lire les livres à sa soeur.
◦ Mathieu va lui lire les livres.
 Le prof donne les livres aux eleves.
◦ Le prof leur donne les livres.

16. (To) me/
you/ us
Him/her/
it/them
To him/to
her/to
them
me
te
nous
vous
le
la
les
l'
lui
leur
When using more than one
pronoun in a sentence they
will ALWAYS go in this
order

17.  Ses amis racontent l’histoire à Murielle
 Elle donne le message à Franck
 vous envoyez les produits au client

18.  Ses amis la lui racontent
 Elle le lui donne
 vous les lui envoyez