Transcript Object pronouns

Object pronouns
page 46
How to say “him”, “her”, “it”,
“them”
What are they for?

In English, if I say:
“I have a TV. I like TV. I watch TV
every day”,
it would sound rather long-winded.
What are they for?
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Surely it would sound more natural to
say: “I have a TV. I like it. I watch it
every day”.
The words in red are called object
pronouns
How do they work in French?
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J’ai une télévision. Je l’aime. Je la
regarde tous les jours.
But I thought l’ & la meant « the »??!
How do we know that l’ and la don’t
mean “the” in the sentence at the top?
How do they work in French?
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Think about the part of speech that le,
la, l’ or les would normally come in front
of in French ...
J’ai une télévision. Je l’aime. Je la
regarde tous les jours.
How do they work in French?
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
YES! They come in front of
NOUNS
e.g.
 le stylo
 la porte
 l’eau
 les enfants
How do they work in French?
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Now look at the sentence again and
work out what part of speech l’ and la
are coming in front of:
J’ai une télévision. Je l’aime. Je la
regarde tous les jours.
How do they work in French?
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YES! They are now coming in front of
VERBS!
J’ai une télévision. Je l’aime. Je la
regarde tous les jours.
Is there anything different about the
word order from English?
How do they work in French?
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YES! Literally the sentence means: “I it
like. I it watch every day”.
Why is “it” translated as “la” in the
second sentence?
How do they work in French?
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Because “la télévision” is feminine of
course!
J’ai une télévision. Je l’aime. Je la
regarde tous les jours.
Why is it “l’” in front of “aime”??
Vowel clashes!
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OF COURSE!
There is a vowel clash – both “le” and
“la” will change into “l’” when the verb
begins with a vowel or h-vowel.
Try these!
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Je mange le pain
Il regarde le match
Il finit les exercices
Elle mange la
confiture
Nous adorons le
français

Je le mange
Il le regarde
Il les finit
Elle la mange
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Nous l’adorons!
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What about “ne” & “pas”?
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The object pronoun goes inside the
“ne” & “pas” like the mustard on a verb
sandwich.
e.g. Je ne l’aime pas
Summary of meanings:
Le + VERB = him / it
 La + VERB = her / it
 L’ + VERB = him / her / it
 Les + VERB = them
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More examples:
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J’aime le poisson
Il finit ses devoirs
Il attend le bus
Il n’aime pas les maths
Elle quitte l’école
Jean préfère les frites
Je ne trouve pas mon
livre
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Je l’aime
Il les finit
Il l’attend
Il ne les aime pas
Elle la quitte
Jean les préfère
Je ne le trouve pas
Other uses!
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The object pronouns can also be used
with “voici” and “voilà” to mean “here it
is”, “there they are” etc.
Le voici
La voilà
etc.
= Here it is / here he is
= There it is / there she is
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