Le, la, lui, leur : how to choose the correct pronoun in French ?

Mastering the French pronouns is not an easy task. But it’s one of the best things you can do to improve your French conversational skills.

“Le”, “la”, “lui” and “leur” : how can you choose the correct pronoun in French ? It’s easy to mix them up because they sound similar but serve different jobs. This short guide shows the simple rule:

• Use “le”, “la” and “les” for direct objects (what or whom), when the verb acts directly on a thing or person,
• and “lui” and “leur” for indirect objects introduced by “à” before the person (to whom).

You will also get clear tips on where to place these pronouns in present, compound, and infinitive tenses so your sentences flow like a native’s. So, if you’re ready to move your French fluency to the next level, stay tuned.

Firstly, the Direct Object Pronoun ( pronom Complément d’Objet Direct) replace nouns when there is no preposition after a verb. The completed verb is said to be direct transitive. We generally find a pronoun COD with verbs such as aimer (to like or love), voir (to see), connaître (to know) or vouloir (to want).

Tip : To identify a pronoun COD, you can ask the questions Whom ? (qui) or What (quoi) ?

ex: J’aime le chocolat > J’aime quoi ? = le chocolat 
Je l’aime > J’aime qui ou quoi ? = l’ is Direct Object Pronoun

As you can notice, pronoun COD are always before the verb introducing the complement replaced by the pronoun. This is a difference from english and can be a bit challenging in the beginning.
ex : J’entends les oiseaux > Je les entends = I hear the birds > I hear them

Basically, the Indirect Object pronoun, often abbreviated COI (Complément d’Objet Indirect), brings essential information to the sentence. In French, the indirect object pronoun replaces only animate indirect objects (people, animals). It answers the question after the verb : To whom? (à qui)

They replace nouns that follow verbs + à, like parler à, téléphoner à, demander à, offrir à, écrire à..

Finally, another difficulty with French pronouns is that they are placed differently for various tenses. We have 4 possibilities that applies to direct object pronouns, indirect object pronouns and reflexive pronouns, and en and y.

In the present tense, pronoun are always placed before the verb :

• Sujet + pronom + Verbe
• Sujet + NE + pronom + Verbe + PAS

ex : Tu regardes ce film ? 
– Oui, je le regarde
– Non, je ne le regarde pas 

Next, a compound tense in French is composed of an auxiliary être (to be) or avoir (to have) and a Past Participle. We have 5 main composed tense : Passé Composé, Plus que Parfait, Conditionnel Passé, Futur Antérieur and Subjonctif Passé. 

• Sujet + pronom + Auxiliaire + Participe Passé
• Sujet + NE + pronom + Auxiliaire + PAS + Participe Passé

ex : Tu as regardé ce film ? 
– Oui, je l’ai regardé
– Non, je ne l’ai pas regardé

Then, for the Future proche and semi-auxiliary verbs, we place the pronoun before the infinitive. Semi-auxiliary verbs are structures using a first verb (such as pouvoir, vouloir, devoir,..) followed by the infinitive.

• Sujet + Verbe + pronom + Infinitif
• Sujet + NE + Verbe + PAS + pronom + Infinitif

ex : Tu va regarder ce film ? 
– Oui, je vais le regarder
– Non, je ne vais pasle regarder

Finally, in the imperative, we have an opposite position of the Object Pronoun in the affirmative and the negative form as follows :

• Verbe + ‘-‘ + pronom
• NE + pronom + Verbe + PAS

ex :

– Regarde-la
– Ne la regarde pas 

As a conclusion, let’s quickly review the mistakes to avoid with direct and indirect object pronouns in French.

In the Passé Composé, the past participle using the auxiliary “avoir” agrees in gender and number if the pronom COD is placed before the verb.

For example : Elles ont acheté des tartes aux fraises > the past participle doesn’t change when the complement is after the verb.
Elles les ont achetées > the past participle needs to be conjugated

Pronouns normally go before the conjugated verb, except in affirmative imperatives. Indeed, we have for example : Donne-le-moi! : Give it to me!

In compound tenses remember: Subject + pronoun + auxiliary + past participle.

Example: Tu as écrit la lettre? -> Tu l’as écrite : You wrote the letter > You wrote it.

Finally, for partitive phrases, we use “en” instead of “le” or “la”. Example with articles:

• Tu prends du pain ? -> Tu en prends : You take some bread -> You take some
• Tu prends le pain ?-> Tu le prends : You take the bread-> You take it

I hope you found this blog post helpful. Tackling the object pronouns is one of the hardest parts of every French learner’s journey. And I’d love to help you feel more confident ! For additional information, you can contact me anytime, anywhere in the world. Don’t forget that great new articles about learning French are also regularly published on French with Agnes blog.