Direct Objects in French: a helpful guide
Posted: Friday, January 20, 2006
by annalaura
Scent Sations Inc.
Direct Objects A Helpful Guide
I A positive sentence with one verb
1. De
2. Is it an object and if so is the object masculine, feminine or plural?
3. Is it referring to a person?
4. Remember things = le, la or les
5. Remember people = me, m’, te, t’, nous or vous
6. Replace the direct object in the sentence with the appropriate article if a thing and if a person see below.
Example: Yasmine mange les pommes.
Yasmine les mange.
Example: My mother loves me.
Ma mère m’aime.
Please note that in French there is no way to express the first example using people.
Also take note of the verbs in French in the book, which use a direct object whereas they use an indirect object in English.
Some examples:
Écouter
Attendre
Regarder
II A negative sentence with one verb
Follow the same instructions as above but remember to put the direct object article in front of the verb.
Examples: Yasmine ne mange pas les pommes.
Yasmine ne les mange pas.
Ma mère ne m’aime pas.
III A positive sentence with two verbs
Examples: Les enfants vont chanter une chanson.
Les enfants vont la chanter.
Les étudiants vont nous aimer.
IV To make commands with a direct object
1. Remember that when you do a command you never use the pronoun.
2. If the command is positive you put the direct object article after the verb
3. If the command is negative you put the direct object article in front of the verb.
4. Me and Te change to moi and toi when they follow the command.
V A positive command
Example: Regardez la télévision
Regardez-la
Écoutez le professeur
Le professeur dit: écoutez-moi
VI A negative command
Example: Ne regardez pas la télévision
Ne la regardez pas.
N’écoutez pas le professeur.
Ne m’écoutez pas.
AnnaLaura Brown is a successful team leader in an international marketing company. For more information on her and to contact her go to http://www.annalaurascandlesandscents.com
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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)I liked the succint manner in which you summed up the direct objects. Using your outline as a model, I plan to start making similar handouts. I hope I filled out the form below correctly. I clicked "5" for the best! Bob
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