Language/French/Grammar/Ambiguity-of-reference-of-lui-and-leur

Ambiguity of reference of lui and leur

Because the indirect object pronouns lui, leur can refer both to masculine and to feminine nouns they are inherently ambiguous:

• Je lui ai indiqué le chemin

I showed him or her the way

• Pierre leur a parlé

Pierre spoke to them (either male or female or mixed)

This ambiguity can be resolved if one wishes, however, by copying the pronoun with a stressed pronoun and a preposition:

• Je lui ai indiqué le chemin à elle/Je lui ai indiqué le chemin à lui
• Pierre leur a parlé à elles/Pierre leur a parlé à eux

Take a moment to explore these relevant pages as you conclude this lesson: Possessive determiners, Omission of the article, Verb forms — Conjugations & Summary table of subject pronouns.

Other Lessons

• Future Tense
• Use of il ils and elle elles
• Position of subject pronouns
• Demonstrative pronouns
• « de » or « du », « de la », « des » after quantifiers
• L’on VS on
• Use of en with numerals and quantifiers
• Subject Verb Agreement — Agreement quantifiers numeral nouns
• Indefinite and negative noun phrases with adjective complements
• Past Participle
• Manner adverbs
• Compound adjectives involving demi—, nu— and mi—
• Optional use of neutral le
• Namesake
• Auxiliaries