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.

Grammar Lessons

Direct vs Indirect Objects

French direct vs indirect object pronounsDirect objects and indirect objects can be tricky to understand and use, but it's essential to know the difference in order to speak and write French correctly. Here are some tips to help you figure out which type of object you're dealing with.

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Grammar Lessons

Dont – Relative Pronoun

Dont - French relative pronounThe relative pronoun dont replaces the preposition de plus a person or thing and serves as the object of a relative clause. Depending on the context, dont has a number of possible translations.

   

Grammar Lessons

Double Pronoun Order

French double pronoun word orderSometimes one pronoun just isn't enough. A sentence might need both a direct and indirect object, or a reflexive pronoun as well as an adverbial. When this happens, word order becomes an issue: how do you know which pronoun to place first? It's actually pretty easy, once you learn the rules.

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Linguistics

Gender-Neutral Pronouns

French gender neutral pronouns
Gender-neutral pronouns, aka inclusive pronouns, are used to avoid sorting individuals into the binary world of male vs female. Gender-neutral language is evolving and not considered standard, but it is becoming more common, especially on the internet, so it's important to be able to recognize the most common terms.

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Grammar Lessons

Impersonal Pronouns

French impersonal pronounsImpersonal pronouns do not have different forms for each grammatical person, though some have different forms that agree with the nouns they replace.

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Grammar Lessons

Indefinite Pronouns

French indefinite pronounsIndefinite pronouns are vague - they either refer to unspecific nouns (like un autre and quelque chose) or make sweeping generalizations (on, tout le monde).

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Grammar Lessons

Indefinite Relative Pronouns

French indefinite relative pronounsIndefinite relative pronouns (ce dont, ce que, ce qui, ce à quoi) are connectors: they link relative clauses to main clauses and, unlike normal relative pronouns, do not not have a specific antecedent.

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Grammar Lessons

Indirect Objects

French indirect objectsAn indirect object is a person that someone or something does something to indirectly. In both French and English, indirect objects are often replaced with indirect object pronouns.

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Fun with French

Informal Pronouns

French informal pronounsPronoun usage and pronunciation varies greatly between formal and informal French. Much of what you learn at school is formal and doesn't reflect how French is actually spoken. If you want to sound more French in informal situations—not to mention understand what you hear—you need to be aware of these pronoun differences.

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