In this section:

• direct object pronouns – forms and uses

• direct object pronouns – placement

• direct object pronouns – agreement with the past participle

A direct object is a noun following the verb that answers the questions ‘what?’ or ‘whom?’ Remember a pronoun replaces a noun. In this case the noun is a direct object. For example, Camille might ask: ‘Virginie, will you call me tonight when you get home?’, where the direct object pronoun ‘me‘ stands for Camille. Whether a verb takes a direct object or not depends on whether the specific verb is transitive or intransitive.

Definitions: transitive direct, transitive indirect, intransitive

Transitive verbs by definition have an object, either a direct object or an indirect object. Intransitive verbs never have objects.

A transitive-direct verb acts directly on its object. In the first sentence below, the telephone is the direct object. The verb ‘entendre’ (to hear) always takes an object; one hears someone or something.

A transitive-indirect verb acts to or for its object.  Hugo is the object of the preposition à in the second sentence since Alex is talking to him.

Intransitive verbs, on the other hand, have no object at all. The verb dormir (to sleep) in the last example does not need any object to complete it. In fact, because the verb is intransitive, it cannot take an object. Intransitive verbs (as well as transitive ones) may be modified by adverbs or prepositional phrases: ‘Hugo sleeps on the couch; he sleeps all the time.’

direct object pronouns – forms and uses

In front of a word starting with a vowel, le and la become l’; me becomes m’; te becomes t’.

Direct object pronouns in French agree in number and gender with the nouns they replace.

Note that le/l’ can replace an adjective or a verb.

direct object pronouns – placement

Direct object pronouns precede the verb of which they are the object. In a composed tense (like the passé composé), the pronoun precedes the auxiliary. In infinitive constructions, the pronoun goes immediately before the infinitive. When the conjugated verb is negative, the ne precedes the object pronoun.

In the negative imperative, the pronoun follows the normal placement before the verb. However, in the affirmative imperative, the object pronoun goes after the verb and is attached to it by a hyphen. In addition, me and te become moi and toi.

direct object pronouns – agreement with the past participle

The past participle agrees in gender and in number with a preceding direct object. In other words, if the direct object pronoun is feminine, add an e to the end of the past participle; if the pronoun is masculine plural, add an s (unless the past participle already ends in s); if it is feminine plural, add es.