Language/French/Grammar/Wrong-use-of-neutral-le-in-phrases-where-'it'-occurs-in-English

Wrong use of neutral le in phrases where 'it' occurs in English

The English constructions 'find it difficult to', 'consider it easy to', 'reckon it possible that', and similar cases, have French counterparts in which le must not appear. The verbs usually involved are croire, penser, trouver, juger, estimer, considérer.

• Je trouve difficile de me faire des amis

I find it difficult to make friends

NOT *Je le trouve difficile de me faire des amis

• II considère important que tous ses amis soient prévenus

He considers it important that all his friends be notified

NOT *I1 le considère important que tous ses amis soient prévenus

The le is absent in these cases because the construction is impersonal, and, while English requires 'it', French requires an absence of pronoun. Where the construction is personal (that is, where a person or thing is referred to), le, la, or les are required:

• Je trouve ce livre difficile à comprendre

1 find this book difficult to understand

• Je le trouve difficile à comprendre (le refers to 'the book')

• J'ai trouvé le soliste impossible à écouter

I found I couldn't bear to listen to the soloist

• Je l'ai trouvé impossible à écouter (le refers to 'the soloist')

Once you've mastered this lesson, take a look at these related pages: Possessive determiners, Omission of the article, Repetition of the definite article & How to write and read numbers.

Other Lessons

• Differences in the use of numbers in French and English Dates
• Conjugation group 3
• Emphasizing me, te, se, nous, vous by adding a pronoun + même
• Stressed pronouns used as the object of a preposition
• Use of il, ce, cela and ça as impersonal pronouns
• Easy way of generating the present tense
• Agreement of past participles with direct objects placed before in relative clauses
• il or ça with impersonal verbs
• Recognizing when an unstressed pronoun is a direct object
• Direct Object Pronoun
• Punctuation
• Marked use of tu
• Adjective—adjective compounds
• Comparatives and Superlatives
• Polite Form