Sunday, December 29, 2019
French Indirect Objects and Indirect Object Pronouns
Indirect objects are the objects in a sentence to or for whom/what* the action of the verb occurs.   Im talking to Pierre.   Je parle à Pierre. To whom am I talking? To Pierre.   He buys books for the students.   Il achà ¨te des livres pour les à ©tudiants. For whom does he buy books? For the students. *For only in the sense of a recipient as in, I bought the gift for you not when it means on behalf of (he speaks for all the members). Indirect Object Pronouns Indirect object pronouns are the words that replace the indirect object, and in French, they can only refer to a person or other animate noun. The French indirect object pronouns are:   me / m   me   te / t   you   lui   him, her   nous   us   vous   you   leur   them Me and te change to m and t, respectively, in front of a vowel or mute H. When deciding between direct and indirect objects, the general rule is that if the person or thing is preceded by the preposition à  or pour, that person/thing is an indirect object. If its not preceded by a preposition, it is a direct object. If its preceded by any other preposition, it cant be replaced by an object pronoun. Like direct object pronouns, French indirect object pronouns are usually placed in front of the verb.   Im talking to him.   Je lui parle.   He buys books for them.   Il leur achà ¨te des livres.   Im giving the bread to you.   Je vous donne le pain.   She wrote to me.   Elle ma à ©crit. In English, an indirect object can be animate or inanimate. This is also true in French; however, an indirect object pronoun can replace the indirect object only when it is an animate noun: person or animal. When you have an indirect object thats not a person or animal, it can only be replaced with the adverbial pronoun y. So, pay attention to him would be fais attention à lui, but pay attention to it (e.g., the program, my explanation) would be fais-y attention. With most verbs and in most tenses and moods, when the indirect object pronoun is first or second person, it has to precede the verb:   Hes talking to me Il me parle, not Il parle à moiWhen the pronoun refers to the third person, you can use a stressed pronoun after the verb and the preposition à in order to stress the distinction between masculine and feminine:   Im talking to her Je lui parle, à elleHowever, with some verbs, the indirect object pronoun has to follow the verbâ€â€see verbs that dont allow a preceding indirect object pronoun. The imperative has different rules for word order. In French, à  plus a person can usually be replaced by an indirect object pronoun:   Jai donnà © le livre à mon frà ¨re - Je lui ai donnà © le livre.   I gave the book to my brother - I gave him the book.   Il parle à toi et à moi - Il nous parle.   Hes talking to you and me - Hes talking to us.However, a few French verbs and expressions* do not allow a preceding indirect object pronoun, and what to use instead depends on whether the indirect object pronoun is a person or a thing. When the Indirect Object Pronoun Is a Person When the indirect object is a person, you must keep the preposition à  after the verb, and follow it with a stressed pronoun:   Je pense à  mes sÅ“urs - Je pense à  elles.   Im thinking about my sisters - Im thinking about them.  Wrong: xx Je leur pense xx   Il doit shabituer à  moi. (no change)   He has to get used to me. Wrong: xx Il doit mhabituer.    Fais attention à ton prof - Fais attention à lui.   Pay attention to your teacher - Pay attention to him.  Wrong: xx Fais-lui attention xxIt is also possible, though rare, to replace the person with the adverbial pronoun y:   Je pense à  mes sÅ“urs - Jy pense.   Il doit shabituer à moi. - Il doit sy habituer.   Fais attention à ton prof - Fais-y attention. When the Indirect Object Pronoun Is a Person When the indirect object is a thing, you have two equally acceptable choices: You can either keep the preposition à  as above but follow it with an indefinite demonstrative pronoun, or you can replace the preposition and indirect object with y: Je songe à  notre jour de mariage - Je songe à  cela, Jy songe. Im dreaming about our wedding day - Im dreaming about it.    Wrong: xx Je lui songe xx    Fais attention à la leà §on - Fais attention à cela, Fais-y attention.   Pay attention to the lesson - Pay attention to it.  Wrong: xx Fais-lui attention xx   Il faut penser à tes responsabilità ©s - Il faut penser à cela, Il faut y penser.   Think about your responsibilities - Think about them. Wrong: xx Il faut lui penser xx *French Verbs and Expressions That Dont Allow a Preceding Indirect Object Pronoun en appeler to appeal to, address avoir affaire to have to deal with avoir recours to have recourse to croire to believe in tre to belong to faire allusion to allude to faire appel to appeal to, address faire attention to pay attention to shabituer to get used to penser to think of, about recourir to have recourse to renoncer to give up, renounce revenir to come back to rver to dream of songer to think, dream of tenir to be fond of, care about venir to come to
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