Language/French/Grammar/Recognizing-when-an-unstressed-pronoun-is-a-direct-object
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Definitions
Subject-verb agreement
The agreement in French (the agreement) is the way to choose the correct ending for verbs in terms of grammatical persons, gender and number, depending on their subject.
Unstressed/Stressed pronoun
- Unstressed pronouns are connected directly or indirectly to a verb.
- Stressed pronouns are separated from the verb by a preposition usually, or even a comma.
Direct Object Pronoun
A direct object pronoun is a word such as "me", "him", "us" and "them", which is used instead of the noun to stand in for the person or thing most directly affected by the action expressed by the verb.
French direct object pronouns are:
| French | English | French | English | |
| me | (m’, moi) | me | nous | us |
| te | (t’, toi) | you | vous | you |
| le | (l’) | him, it | les | them |
| la | (l’) | her, it | ||
Recognizing when an unstressed pronoun is a direct object
English speakers can remember to make the agreement between a preceding direct object pronoun and the past participle without too much difficulty. However, they often still have problems recognizing when a preceding pronoun is a direct object or not. This is particularly the case when the pronouns are "me", "te", "nous", "vous" which can act as direct object pronouns or as indirect object pronouns, and when the verbs involved are directly transitive in English but have indirectly transitive equivalents in French. For example, there is no agreement in the following cases because the pronouns are all indirect objects:
convenir à quelqu’un
- La décision nous a convenu
The decision suited us
désobéir à quelqu’un
- Alain vous a désobéi
Alain disobeyed you
nuire à quelqu’un
- Victor m'a nui
Victor did me some damage
succéder à quelqu’un
- Françoise m'a succédé
Françoise succeeded me
téléphoner à quelqu’un
- Les voisins nous ont téléphoné
The neighbours phoned us
résister à quelqu’un
- Les cambrioleurs nous ont résisté
The burglars resisted us