Direct And Indirect Object Pronouns - Me, Te, Nous, Vous

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In French, just like in English, to avoid repeating words placed after a preposition that follows a verb (which are called indirect objects), you use object pronouns.

Learn about the pronouns me, te, nous, vous in French

In English we have different pairs of words like I/me, he/him, she/her, we/us, you/you which we use depending on which 'side' of a verb they're on: 

e.g. She admires her

I give it to him (or, I give him it)

He gives it to me (or, He gives me it)

(Notice that in the cases with 'to', the words can switch around and the 'to' vanishes, and something very similar happens in French with verbs that have à in them)

These are called subject pronouns (left) and object pronouns (right).  

 

French has similar pairs which we use:

Subject Pronoun	Object Pronoun
je	me
tu	te
nous	nous
vous	vous

 

See how they get used in real sentences:

Je me demande si c'est possible.I ask myself if it's possible.

Je te parle.I'm speaking to you.

Tu nous parles.You're speaking to us.

Je vous attends.I'm waiting for you.

Je t'aime.I love you.

Note that they always come before the verb.And when followed by a vowel or mute "h", me and te become m' and t' .

Grammar note: Remember verbs always have a subject (je/tu etc.) but only some have objects. Use object pronouns to replace nouns that are the object of the verb.

Tip: If the words "object pronoun" strike horror and panic into your heart, take a look at the cartoon video in the examples which explains them. They're actually pretty easy to figure out.

 

See also Position of French Object Pronouns - with negations 

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Learn more about these related French grammar topics

• Pronom d'objet direct
• Pronom d'objet indirect
• Élision