Lesson 1 of 6Pronouns, Negation and Agreement

Unit 3 · Lesson 1 of 6

Double Pronouns in Every Position

You learned the double-pronoun order chart in Grade 10. This lesson takes the pair of pronouns through every verb frame you meet at Grade 12: compound tenses with agreement, negatives, modal verb + infinitive, pronominal verbs, faire + infinitive, inverted questions and both kinds of commands, plus the pairing French refuses (me + lui and its relatives).

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Key things to remember

1Order before the verb: me, te, se, nous, vous → le, la, les → lui, leur → y → en. The two pronouns form one block that never splits.
2The block goes before the verb it belongs to: the conjugated verb, the auxiliary in compound tenses, the infinitive after pouvoir, vouloir, devoir, aller (je vais le leur dire), but before faire in faire + infinitive (je le lui fais lire).
3Negation wraps the block and the conjugated verb or auxiliary: Je ne le lui ai pas donné.
4Affirmative commands: verb + le/la/les → moi/toi/lui/nous/vous/leur → y → en, with hyphens; moi, toi become m', t' before en (Donne-m'en). Negative commands use statement order (Ne me le donne pas).
5The past participle agrees with a direct object pronoun placed before it (Robert me l'a donnée), never with lui, leur or y, and normally not with en; fait + infinitive never agrees.
6me, te, se, nous, vous (direct) cannot combine with lui, leur: Il m'a présenté à elle.

Listen to two people who know each other well and you will hear sentences like Je ne lui en ai pas parlé (I didn't talk to him about it), Robert me l'a donnée (Robert gave it to me) or Il nous y a emmenés (He took us there). Each one squeezes two objects into two tiny words in front of the verb. That compression is what makes spoken French sound natural: repeating la lettre and à Julie in every sentence sounds robotic. In Grade 10 you learned the order of two pronouns. The Grade 12 challenge is position: the same pair has to land in the right place whether the verb is in the passé composé, negative, after pouvoir or aller, after faire, inside a question or in a command, and the past participle has to agree when a direct object pronoun comes before it. Once you can do that without stopping to think, you can follow fast conversation and write a paragraph without repeating a single noun.

Slot 1	Slot 2	Slot 3	Slot 4	Slot 5	Verb
me, te, se, nous, vous	le, la, les	lui, leur	y	en	conjugated verb, auxiliary or infinitive
Il me le prête.	Je le lui prête.	Je le lui prête.	Je l'y emmène.	Il y en a.
(He lends it to me.)	(I lend it to him.)	(I lend it to her.)	(I take him there.)	(There is some.)

The order before the verb, from left to right. In everyday French a sentence holds at most two of these pronouns at once. Me, te, se, le and la shorten to m', t', s', l' before a vowel, which includes y and en.

Fig 1The five pronoun slots in order before the verb, the me plus lui combination that is not allowed, and six sentences showing where the pronoun block lands in a compound tense, a negative, after a modal verb, with a pronominal verb, before faire, and in a command.

Rule 1: the block goes before the verb it belongs to

Think of the two pronouns as one block that never splits. The only question is which verb the block sits in front of, and the answer is: the verb whose objects they are. In a simple tense there is only one verb (Je le lui donne). In a compound tense the block goes before the auxiliary, because the auxiliary is the conjugated part (Je le lui ai donné). With a modal or semi-auxiliary such as pouvoir, vouloir, devoir, aller, venir de, the objects belong to the infinitive, so the block goes before the infinitive: Je vais le leur dire (I'm going to tell them), Je peux m'en acheter un (I can buy myself one), Elle doit les y apporter (She has to bring them there). Ask yourself: dire quoi à qui? The answer belongs to dire, not to vais.

Verb frame	Where the block goes	Example	English
Simple tense	before the conjugated verb	Je le lui donnerai demain.	I'll give it to him tomorrow.
Compound tense	before the auxiliary	Robert me l'a donnée.	Robert gave it (la clé) to me.
Negative compound	ne + block + auxiliary + pas	Je ne lui en ai pas parlé.	I didn't talk to him about it.
Modal or aller + infinitive	before the infinitive	Je vais le leur dire.	I'm going to tell them (it).
Negative modal	ne + modal + pas + block + infinitive	Je ne peux pas te le promettre.	I can't promise you that.
Pronominal verb	se-pronoun first, then the other	Je m'en suis acheté un.	I bought myself one.
faire + infinitive	before faire	Je le lui ferai lire.	I'll have her read it.
Inverted question	block + auxiliary-hyphen-subject	Le lui as-tu dit ?	Did you tell him (it)?

Every frame is the same idea: find the verb that takes the objects and put the block right in front of it. The main exception is faire plus an infinitive, where the block jumps in front of faire; laisser and verbs of perception such as voir and entendre often work the same way.

Why faire is different

In faire + infinitive (faire lire, to have someone read; faire réparer, to have something repaired), the two verbs work as one unit, so the pronouns go in front of faire: J'ai fait réparer la voiture → Je l'ai fait réparer (I had it repaired). Je fais lire le rapport à mes collègues → Je le leur fais lire (I have my colleagues read it). And fait followed by an infinitive never agrees: Ces lettres ? Je les ai fait envoyer — no -es. You will study faire causatif in depth in the next unit; for now, just remember that pronouns come before faire.

Rule 2: agreement in compound tenses

AThe participle agrees

La clé ? Robert me l'a donnée. — The key? Robert gave it to me. (l' = la clé, direct, before avoir)
Nos parents nous y ont emmenés. — Our parents took us there. (emmener quelqu'un: nous is direct)
Ces photos, je te les ai envoyées hier. — I sent you these photos yesterday.
La robe ? Elle se l'est achetée en solde. — The dress? She bought it for herself on sale. (l' is the direct object)

BNo agreement

Je lui en ai parlé. — I talked to her about it. (lui is indirect; en normally does not trigger agreement)
Des billets ? Je m'en suis acheté deux. — Tickets? I bought myself two. (m' = for myself, indirect; en adds nothing)
Les lettres ? Je les ai fait envoyer. — The letters? I had them sent. (fait + infinitive)
Elle s'est acheté une robe. — She bought herself a dress. (the direct object comes after the verb)

A three-second agreement check

With avoir, and with a pronominal verb whose se means to oneself, ask: is there a direct object before the verb? Point to it: le, la, les, l', me, te, nous, vous when they mean it, them, me, us directly. If yes, the participle agrees with it. Lui, leur and y never count, and standard usage treats en as not counting either. One case often taught as an exception: laissé + infinitive, which the 1990 French spelling reform recommends leaving invariable, like fait (Je les ai laissé partir); traditional grammar still makes it agree in some sentences, so you will see both in print.

Command	Pronoun order	Example	English
Affirmative	verb-le/la/les-moi/toi/lui/nous/vous/leur-y-en	Rends-les-moi. Envoie-la-leur.	Give them back to me. Send it to them.
Affirmative + en	moi and toi become m' and t' before en	Donne-m'en. Va-t'en. Parle-lui-en.	Give me some. Go away. Talk to him about it.
Negative	back to normal statement order	Ne me les rends pas. Ne leur en parlez pas.	Don't give them back to me. Don't talk to them about it.

In an affirmative command the pronouns follow the verb, joined by hyphens, and le, la or les always comes first. Combinations with y after a pronoun, such as emmène-nous-y, are correct but sound heavy, so speakers often rephrase.

Me plus lui: the pair French refuses

When the direct object is me, te, se, nous or vous, French will not add lui or leur in front of the verb. He introduced me to her is not il me lui a présenté; instead keep the person after à with a stressed pronoun: Il m'a présenté à elle. The same with pronominal verbs: Elle s'est adressée à lui (She spoke to him), never elle se lui est adressée. If a sentence seems to need slots 1 and 3 together, move the slot-3 person after the verb with à.

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Replace the objects in a sentence with pronouns and watch them take their slots in statements, negatives, compound tenses and commands.

In context: getting ready for a trip to Tadoussac

Maya : Tu as rendu les clés du chalet à M. Gagnon ? — Did you return the cottage keys to Mr. Gagnon?
Hugo : Oui, je les lui ai rendues hier. Mais je ne lui en ai pas encore parlé, de la facture. — Yes, I gave them back to him yesterday. But I haven't talked to him about the bill yet.
Maya : Alors parle-lui-en ce soir. Et les photos du quai, tu me les envoies ? — Then talk to him about it tonight. And the photos of the wharf, will you send them to me?
Hugo : Je vais te les envoyer tout de suite. Tes parents nous y ont emmenés si tôt ! — I'll send them to you right away. Your parents took us there so early!
Maya : Et la crème solaire ? Ne me dis pas que tu ne l'as pas apportée… — And the sunscreen? Don't tell me you didn't bring it…
Hugo : Si, si ! Je m'en suis même acheté une deuxième. Tiens, prends-la. — Yes, I did! I even bought myself a second one. Here, take it.

Notice how each pronoun lets Hugo skip a noun Maya has just said. Les lui ai rendues: les = the keys (feminine plural, before avoir, so rendues agrees), lui = M. Gagnon. In parle-lui-en, the command puts the pronouns after the verb with hyphens. Je vais te les envoyer: the block sits before the infinitive. And Si, si ! is how French contradicts a negative statement: Maya suggested he did not bring it, so oui would sound odd.

Worked examples

Reveal one step at a time and try to beat it to the next line.

Example 1

Replace both objects with pronouns: Je n'ai pas parlé du problème à Julie.

Example 2

Replace both objects: Elle doit apporter les documents au bureau.

Example 3

Rewrite with pronouns: J'ai fait lire le rapport à mes collègues. Then check the participle.

Example 4

Turn into an affirmative and then a negative command (tu): Tu me donnes des conseils.

Where marks get lost

Putting the block in front of the modal: Je le leur vais dire or Elle les y doit apporter. The objects belong to the infinitive: Je vais le leur dire. Elle doit les y apporter.
Reversing le and lui: Je lui le donne. Direct before indirect in slot order: Je le lui donne. (Only me, te, se, nous, vous come before le.)
Making the participle agree with en or lui: Des pommes ? J'en ai mangées. Je lui ai parlée. Only a direct object pronoun before the verb triggers agreement: J'en ai mangé. Je lui ai parlé.
Writing Donne-moi-le or Donne-moi-en. Standard order in affirmative commands puts the direct object first and shortens moi before en: Donne-le-moi. Donne-m'en.
Placing pronouns after faire: J'ai fait le réparer. With faire + infinitive they go before faire: Je l'ai fait réparer.

Flashcards 8

Double pronoun order before the verb

Affirmative command order

I'm going to tell them (it).

I didn't talk to him about it.

+ 4 more

Practice

Replace la lettre and à mes parents: J'ai envoyé la lettre à mes parents.

Which sentence puts the pronouns in the right place? (She can buy herself some.)

Rewrite with two pronouns, keeping the negative: Je n'ai pas donné le livre à Marc.

Write the affirmative tu command with two pronouns: Tu me prêtes ton stylo. (Lend it to me.)

Make this command negative: Donnez-leur-en.

Which participle is correct? Ces chansons ? Je les ai ___ chanter par la chorale. (I had the choir sing them.)

How do you say He introduced me to them in standard French?

Put the words in order to say I'm not going to tell it to them.

1le
2dire.
3leur
4Je
5ne
6vais
7pas

Match each sentence to the reason for the pronoun position.

Je vais le leur dire.

Je le leur ai dit.

Je le leur fais dire.

Dis-le-leur.

Ne le leur dis pas.

Nos amis ? Le festival ? Mes parents ___ ont emmenés. (They took our friends to the festival.) Which pronouns complete the sentence and explain the -és?

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