Please refer to the French B2 Curriculum to get a better overview of French grammar, if you are curious about how this fits in the overall structure of French B2.
By the end of the lesson you will know all about how to use direct and indirect object pronouns together in French!
In previous lessons you have learned about direct and indirect object pronouns.
The indirect object pronouns are lui/leur.
There are also some shared direct and indirect object pronouns: me/te/nous/vous.
In this lesson you will learn how to use direct and indirect object pronouns together.
Please have a look at the following example.
Je vais leur envoyer l’argent
I am going to send them the money
Je vais le leur envoyer.
I am going to send it to them.
In the first example you can see the indirect object pronoun leur (them).
You are going to send money to them.
In the second example you can see the direct object pronoun le (it) and the indirect object pronoun leur (them) together.
Le has taken the place of money.
You don’t have to mention money again, because le refers to it.
You will see more examples on how to use direct and indirect object pronouns together, and how to order them.
Please have a look at the following sentences.
Nous vous le demandons.
We are asking you it.
Il me l’a conseillé.
He advised it to me.
Je vous l’ai interdit.
I forbade you it.
Please note how both the pronouns are before the conjugated verb, or the auxiliary (in the compound tenses).
Please have a look at the following sentences.
Nous le lui demandons.
We are asking it to him.
Nous le leur avons dit.
We told it to them.
Je vais les lui envoyer.
I’m going to send them to him/her.
Je vais le lui envoyer.
I’m going to send it to him/her.
Je vais les leur envoyer.
I’m going to send them to them.
Please note how both the pronouns are before the conjugated verb, or the auxiliary (in the compound tenses).
You may have noticed a conflict of order when it comes to using direct and indirect object pronouns together.
Please look at le in the following two examples.
Nous vous le demandons.
We are asking you it.
Nous le lui demandons.
We are asking it to him.
You can see that le is in different positions in the 2 examples.
What is then the correct order when it comes to using direct and indirect object pronouns together?
| Position 1 | Position 2 | Position 3 | Position 4 | Position 5 |
| me/te/nous/vous | le/la/les/l’ | lui/leur | y | en |
In the table you can see the correct order for how to use direct and indirect object pronouns together.
In the first position you will find: me/te/nous/vous.
In the second position you will find: le/la/les/l’.
In the third position you will find: lui/leur.
This is fixed, and cannot be changed.
In the following lessons you will learn about how to position y and en.
This is valuable because you can improve your understanding of direct and indirect object pronouns together through examples.
Je vais leur envoyer l’argent
I am going to send them the money
Je vais le leur envoyer.
I am going to send it to them.
Nous vous le demandons.
We are asking you it.
Il me l’a conseillé.
He advised it to me.
Je vous l’ai interdit.
I forbade you it.
Nous le lui demandons.
We are asking it to him.
Nous le leur avons dit.
We told it to them.
Je vais les lui envoyer.
I’m going to send them to him/her.
Je vais le lui envoyer.
I’m going to send it to him/her.
Je vais les leur envoyer.
I’m going to send them to them.
At the end of every lesson you can do a small quiz.
You will see the sentences of the previous chapter.
You will either need to fill in the blanks, choose the correct multiple choice option, or both.
Once you are done the correct answer will be shown.
You can redo the quiz as many times as you want!
Using flashcards is an absolute necessity when it comes to learning a language!
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Please read our article on how to learn a new language for more information.
There are two ways to practice with Flashcards for this lesson.
After you have downloaded Anki for free, you can get our French B2 Anki Deck.
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