pronouns
French Pronouns
Les pronoms
Pronouns are used when you get tired of repeating nouns. There are many different types of French pronouns – try these links for detailed lessons and examples of each type.
Unlike other French suffixes, -ci does not create new words, but rather adds additional meaning to the nouns and pronouns it's attached to.
demonstratives • pronouns • suffixes
-là Suffix
Unlike other French suffixes, -là does not create new words, but rather adds additional meaning to the nouns and pronouns it's added to.
demonstratives • pronouns • suffixes
Adjectives vs Pronouns
At first glance, adjectives and pronouns might seem to have very little in common, since adjectives are used with nouns, while pronouns replace nouns. But there is an interesting relationship that can help you use both parts of speech more effectively: there are six French adjective / pronoun pairs, where an adjective + noun can be replaced by a corresponding pronoun.
adjectives • B1 - Intermediate French • pronouns
Advanced Indirect Objects
Some French verbs do not allow their indirect objects to be replaced by pronouns; instead, the preposition must be maintained after the verb along with the indirect object.
B2 - Upper-Intermediate French • pronouns • verbs
Adverbial Pronouns / Pronominal Adverbs
As you might guess from their name, adverbial pronouns are caught between two worlds: they are pronouns in the sense that they replace nouns, and at the same time they are adverbs representing a place, a quantity, or the object of a proposition. French has two adverbial pronouns: en and y.
adverbs • B1 - Intermediate French • pronouns • word order
Agreement
Grammatical agreement is a vast topic - and one of the banes of French students. While in English we have a few pronouns and adjectives that indicate gender and number (e.g., he/him/his and she/her/hers), in French, agreement is found in 5 of the 8 parts of speech.
adjectives • articles • nouns • pronouns
Agreement with vous
Vous can be every type of personal pronoun, but its role as a subject pronoun may be the trickiest because of agreement.
agreement • B1 - Intermediate French • pronouns
Causative Construction with Objects and Agreement
Certain aspects of French grammar are a bit different with the causative than with other two-verb constructions.
agreement • B2 - Upper-Intermediate French • pronouns • verbs
Ce dont and quoi – Indefinite Relative Pronouns
The indefinite relative pronouns ce dont and quoi are used when replacing the indirect object of a preposition.
Ce que and Ce qui – Indefinite Relative Pronouns
The indefinite relative pronouns ce que and ce qui both mean "what" or "that," so which one to use depends on grammar, not meaning.