French personal pronouns

Je, tu, il, nous, vous, ils… You know those words. But when a personal pronoun is used as a direct object, or indirect object, the matter changes. Here you can read when to use which word.

In Dutch you probably do it right automatically, and you don’t have to parse a sentence. In French it is necessary to know whether you are dealing with a direct or indirect object.

direct object

The direct object in a sentence is found by asking the question Who? or What? (Qui ? Quoi ?).
I see him walking. > Him is the direct object here. (Who do you see walking? Him.)
The personal pronouns used as direct objects in French are:
me/m’, te/t’, la/la/l’, nous, vous, les.
Tu m’entends? (Do you hear me?)
Your pense que je te vois. (I think I see you.)
Je la vois marcher. (I see her walking.)
Il va nous rencontrer. (He’s going to meet us.)
Elle vous connais bien. (She knows them well/She knows you well.)
J’ai les oublie. (I forgot them/I forgot them.)

Good to know: verbs like aimer, attendre, donner, ecouter, parler, regarder… automatically ask for a direct object.

Indirect object

An indirect object can be recognized because the word ‘to’ or ‘for’ often precedes it, or can be mentally added: De qui? De quoi? À qui? À quoi?
I gave him the letter. > Him is the indirect object here. (To whom did you give the letter? To him.)
The personal pronouns used as indirect objects in French are: me/m’, te/t’, lui, nous, vous, leur.
Tu m’as donné un gift. (You gave me a present.)
Il t’achète une bague. (He buys me a ring.)
Je lui ai donné la lettre. (I gave him the letter.)
Elle nos interested. (We’re interested in her.)
Je vous appelle bientôt. (I’ll call you soon.)
Tu leur as expliqué les circumstances ? (Did you explain the circumstances to them?)

Place in the sentence

Personal pronouns are placed before the conjugated verb. Unless there is an infinitive in the sentence, in which case they are placed before it.
In a negation, you place ne…pas around the direct or indirect object and the conjugated verb: Je ne la vois pas (I do not see her). Je ne lui donne pas de cadeau (I did not give him a gift).
If there is an infinitive in the sentence, that verb falls outside the negation, but the direct object remains inside: Je ne vois pas la marcher (I do not see her walking). In the case of an indirect object, both the personal pronoun and the infinitive are placed outside the negation: Je ne vais pas lui donner mes nouvelles (I am not going to tell him my news.)

For the advanced: ‘À’, ‘sur’ and ‘de’

With certain verbs followed by à, sur, or de, you need the words lui, elle, eux or elles.
This is the case for the following verbs + à:

penser à + lui, elle, eux, elles (to think of/about)
renoncer à + lui, elle, eux, elles (to renounce, to give up on someone)
tenir à + lui, elle, eux, elles (to be fond of, to care about someone)
avoir affaire à + lui, elle, eux, elles (to deal with/be served by someone)
songer à + lui, elle, eux, elles (to think/dream of someone)
avoir recours à / recourir à + lui, elle, eux, elles (to call upon/resort to someone)
faire appel à + lui, elle, eux, elles (to appeal to/call upon the help of someone)

With sur
Je compte sur Benoît. > Je compte sur lui. (I am counting on Benoît. > I am counting on him.)
Je compte sur les médecins. > Je compte on eux. (I am counting on the doctors. > I am counting on them.)

With de or d’
Je voulais parler de lui. (I wanted to talk about him.)
On attend tout d’elles. (Everything is expected of them.)