Pronouns
French object pronouns are clitics: they cannot stand alone and they move in front of the verb, in a fixed order — the single biggest word-order surprise for English speakers.
Subject pronouns
| singular | plural | |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | je (j') | nous |
| 2nd | tu (informal) | vous (plural and polite singular) |
| 3rd | il / elle / on | ils / elles |
- tu vs vous: vous to strangers, elders, customers; tu to friends, family, children. When unsure, vous.
- on is everywhere in speech: it means we (On y va ? = shall we go?), generic you/one, or people. It conjugates like il.
- ils covers any mixed group; elles only all-female.
Object pronouns go BEFORE the verb
Je le vois. (I see him/it.) · Elle **m'**aime. (She loves me.) · Je lui parle. (I'm talking to him/her.)
| direct object (le voir) | indirect object (lui parler) |
|---|---|
| me, te, le, la, nous, vous, les | me, te, lui, nous, vous, leur |
They differ only in the 3rd person: le/la/les = him/her/it/them (no preposition), lui/leur = to him/her/them (verbs with à).
y and en
| pronoun | replaces | example |
|---|---|---|
| y | à + place/thing | Tu vas à Paris ? — J'y vais. |
| en | de + thing, quantities | Tu veux du café ? — J'en veux. · J'en ai trois. |
The order when you stack them
me te se nous vous < le la les < lui leur < y < en [VERB]
Il me le donne. · Je le lui ai dit. · Il y en a deux.
You will rarely stack more than two — but the order never changes.
Where they go in other constructions
| construction | position | example |
|---|---|---|
| compound tense | before the auxiliary | *Je **l'*ai vu. |
| infinitive | before the infinitive | Je vais le faire. |
| negative | inside the sandwich | Je ne le vois pas. |
| affirmative imperative | after the verb, with hyphens | Donne-le-moi ! (me → moi) |
Stressed (tonic) pronouns
moi, toi, lui, elle, nous, vous, eux, elles — used alone, after prepositions, and for emphasis:
C'est moi. · avec lui · Moi, je préfère le thé. · Et toi ?
English emphasizes by stressing the word ("I like tea"); French cannot stress a clitic — it adds a tonic pronoun instead.
Reflexives
me, te, se, nous, vous, se — same slot, first position: Je me lève. Ils se voient souvent.
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