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Double Pronoun Order

1. When a French sentence contains multiple object pronouns, there is a specific order they must follow depending on whether the verb is in the affirmative imperative or other tenses and moods. 2. In most tenses besides the affirmative imperative, pronouns precede the verb in this order: me, te, se, lui, leur, y, en. 3. In the affirmative imperative, pronouns follow the verb connected with hyphens in this order: direct object, indirect object, y/en. For example: "Montre-le-moi" means "Show it to me."

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24 views3 pages

Double Pronoun Order

1. When a French sentence contains multiple object pronouns, there is a specific order they must follow depending on whether the verb is in the affirmative imperative or other tenses and moods. 2. In most tenses besides the affirmative imperative, pronouns precede the verb in this order: me, te, se, lui, leur, y, en. 3. In the affirmative imperative, pronouns follow the verb connected with hyphens in this order: direct object, indirect object, y/en. For example: "Montre-le-moi" means "Show it to me."

Uploaded by

joe vega
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Double Pronoun

Order
Ordre de deux pronoms
compléments
Sometimes one pronoun just isn’t
enough. A sentence might need both
a direct and indirect object, or
a reflexive pronoun as well as
an adverbial. When this happens, word
order becomes an issue: how do you
know which pronoun to place first? It’s Share / Tweet / Pin Me!
actually pretty easy, once you learn the
rules.

 Be sure you fully understand how to use each type of pronoun before continuing with
this lesson.
As you know, object, reflexive, and adverbial pronouns precede the verbs they modify
in every tense and mood—except the affirmative imperative, when they follow it (learn
more). When a verb has double pronouns, they still precede or follow, but the order of the
two pronouns themselves also varies.

Normal pronoun order


In the vast majority of verb tenses and moods, the pronouns precede the verb and must be
placed in this order:

1   2       .       .       .       3   4

    me   le   lui            
te
se
Subject   nou   la       y   e   conjugated verb
pronoun s n
vou
s
      le   leu            
s r

Par exemple…

Il me les montre.   He’s showing them to me.


Je le lui ai donné.   I gave it to him.

Ne la leur envoie pas.   Don’t send it to them.

Il y en aura   There will be a lot of them.


beaucoup.

  Two pronouns is the limit. The French won’t say something like Je le lui y ai donné to
mean "I gave it to him there"; instead, they’ll reword the sentence to remove one of the
pronouns.
Par exemple…

Je lui y ai donné le livre.   I gave him the book there.

Je l’y ai donné à Michel.   I gave it to Michel there.

Je le lui ai donné à   I gave it to him at school.


l’école.

Affirmative imperative pronoun order


In the affirmative imperative, pronouns follow the verb and are connected to it and to one
another with hyphens, in this order: direct + indirect + y / en.

1   2    .    .    .    3

    le
  moi      
toi
lui
Imperative – la – nou –   y
s
vou
    le   s     e
s leur n

Par exemple…

Montre-le-moi.   Show it to me.


Donnons-la-   Let’s give it to them.
leur.

Emmenez-les-y.   Take them there.

Donne-m’en.   Give me some.

  Remember that moi and toi are stressed forms that can only be used when at the end


of the command. When they precede y or en, they revert back to me and te and are
therefore obliged to contract to m’ and t’.

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