Object Pronouns

Direct object pronouns (COD)

The biggest trap for many learners: copying English word order and dropping the pronoun after the verb ("I see him" → Je vois le). In French the object pronoun always goes before the verb. The next trap is mixing up le/la/les (for people or things) with lui/leur (only for à + person).

These replace the direct object (an object with no preposition).

• Tu vois le film ? → Tu le vois ?
• J'aime Marie. → Je l'aime.

Indirect object pronouns (COI)

These replace à + person (the indirect object).

• Je parle à Pierre. → Je lui parle.
• Il écrit à ses parents. → Il leur écrit.

y and en

Position rule

Object pronouns go before the verb (not after it as in English).

• Je le vois. (I see him.)
• Je ne le vois pas. (In a negative sentence they sit inside the ne … pas.)

Order with two pronouns

When two pronouns appear together, arrange them in this order:

me/te/se/nous/vous → le/la/les → lui/leur → y → en

💡 Grab the intuition (memorize this chain): me te se nous vous → le la les → lui leur → y → en. Mnemonic: "person first, thing next, place is y, quantity en closes it out." Can't remember whether the first group (me/te/nous/vous) or le/la/les comes first? Just know that whenever le/la/les appears, it always sits before lui/leur (le lui, never lui le).

• Il me le donne. (He gives it to me.)
• Je le lui dis. (I say it to him.)

⚠️ The nastiest one: object moved forward → the past participle agrees

In the compound past with avoir, the past participle does not agree by default. But the moment the direct object (COD) moves in front of the verb — becoming a le/la/les pronoun, or pulled forward by the relative pronoun que — the past participle must agree in gender and number with that COD. This is a high-frequency point on the TCF's writing and reading sections.

🔑 Agreement happens only with a fronted COD; with a COI (lui/leur) or en, there is never any agreement: Je leur ai parlé (no e/s); Des pommes ? J'en ai mangé (no agreement).