English / Français
Pronouns
French has more pronoun sets than English, but many of the forms repeat. The chart shows where one word does several jobs and where the forms split. The diagrams below it show where a pronoun goes in the sentence.
Every set in one chart
| Person | Subject | Direct object | Indirect object | Reflexive | Stressed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I / me | je | me | moi | ||
| you (informal) | tu | te | toi | ||
| he / him | il | le | lui | se | lui |
| she / her | elle | la | lui | se | elle |
| we / us | nous | nous | nous | ||
| you (formal, or more than one) | vous | vous | vous | ||
| they / them | ils masc. elles fem. | les | leur | se | eux masc. elles fem. |
filled, wide cell: one form covers direct, indirect and reflexivedashed cell: the form changes with the job
- In the first and second person, the same form is used as direct object, indirect object and reflexive pronoun: il me voit (he sees me), il me parle (he talks to me), je me lave (I wash myself).
- The third person has three different sets: le, la, les for a direct object, lui, leur for an indirect object, se for a reflexive.
- Lui means “to him” and “to her”, and leur means “to them”, masculine or feminine. Context shows which.
- A reflexive pronoun refers back to the subject and goes before the verb: Camille se lève à sept heures, Nous nous levons.
- Me, te, le, la and se become m’, t’, l’, s’ before a vowel: Il m’aime, Je l’aime, Tu t’appelles Luc.
- Tu is for one person you know well, such as a friend, a child or a relative. Vous is for one person you do not know well, and for any group. The verb is in the vous form either way: Vous parlez.
- On means “one” or “people”, and in everyday speech “we”: On y va. Its verb is in the il form: on mange.
- The subject pronoun is required: Je parle français. The exception is a command, which has no subject pronoun: Parle plus lentement.
When to use the stressed pronouns
The stressed pronouns are moi, toi, lui, elle, nous, vous, eux, elles. They stand on their own, not directly before a verb.
- After a preposition: avec moi, pour toi, chez eux.
- For emphasis or contrast, with the ordinary subject pronoun kept: Moi, je préfère le thé.
- On their own, or after c’est: C’est moi, C’est lui.
- With et: Luc et moi, nous partons.
- With -même, for “myself”, “yourself” and so on: moi-même.
Where the pronoun goes
The unstressed pronouns (me, te, le, la, lui, nous, vous, les, leur, se) normally come right before the conjugated verb: Je le vois. In the passé composé they come before the helper verb: Je l’ai vu. When a conjugated verb is followed by an infinitive, they usually go before the infinitive they belong to: Je veux le voir. In a positive command they follow the verb, joined to it with a hyphen. Each case is diagrammed against its English counterpart.
Y and en
Two small pronouns, y and en, stand for a place, a thing or a quantity. Y replaces a place introduced by à, dans, en, chez or a similar preposition: J’y vais (I’m going there), J’y suis (I’m in there). It also replaces à plus a thing: J’y pense (I’m thinking about it). For à plus a person, French normally uses lui or leur instead: Je lui parle (I’m talking to him). En replaces de plus a thing, or a quantity: J’en veux (I want some). They go before the verb, like the other unstressed pronouns. A separate page on y and en is planned.