Subject Stressed Direct object Indirect object Reflexive

je moi me me me
tu toi te te te
il; elle; on lui; elle; soi le; la lui se
nous; on nous nous nous nous
vous vous vous vous vous
ils; elles eux; elles les leur se

Now, let’s have a closer look at these French pronouns and how to use
them. We’ll also look at how they behave and how they compare to
their English counterparts.

1- Personal Subject Pronouns

No matter your level of French, you already know these guys. They’re
some of the most basic and common words in the language, featured
in the very first sentences you ever learned.

These pronouns simply replace the subject of a sentence.

For example:

• Marie a faim.

“Marie is hungry.”

• Elle a faim.

‘”She is hungry.”
 Subject Example
Je suis Français.
je (“I”)
“I am French.”
Tu as raison.
tu (“you”)
“You are right.”
Il frappe à la porte.
il (“he”)
“He is knocking on the door.”

Elle frappe à la porte.

elle (“she”)
“She is knocking at the door.”

On frappe à la porte.
on (*)
“Someone is knocking at the door.”
Nous sommes mariés.
nous, on (“we”)
“We are married.“
Vous êtes de vrais amis.
vous (“you”)
“You are true friends.”
Ils vont bien.
ils, elles (“they”)
“They are doing well.”

(*) On is an odd case. It can be used as an indefinite pronoun or as an

alternative to nous.

Depending on the sentence and context, on can translate as

“someone,” “one,” or “people.”

• On pourrait croire que…

“One could think that…”

• A l’époque, on pensait que…

“At the time, people thought that…”

In other cases, on translates into a slightly casual nous. Indeed, in most

conversations, you’ll use on instead of nous.
 • On sera un peu en retard ce soir.

“We will be a bit late tonight.”

• On va prendre la voiture.

“We will take the car.”

2- Stressed Pronouns

No need to bang your head anywhere, these pronouns are much more
stressed than they are stressful. They’re even pretty straightforward,
once you get to know them!

Stressed Example
C’est moi !
1st person [s] moi
“It’s me!”
J’en ai un. Et toi ?
2nd person [s] toi
“I’ve got one. And you?”
Nous sommes différents, lui et moi.
“We are different, he and I.”
3rd person [s] lui; elle; soi
Avec ou sans elle
“With or without her”
Ils sont plus fort que nous.
1st person [p] nous
“They are stronger than us.”
Nous sommes meilleurs que vous.
2nd person [p] vous
“We are better than you.”
Ne fais pas attention à eux.
3rd person [p] eux; elles
“Don’t mind them.”
 Don’t let the stressed pronouns get on your nerves!

3- Direct and Indirect Pronouns

Now it’s getting serious! Before we get to these French pronouns

examples, we need to talk about how they work and how to place direct
and indirect pronouns in a sentence.

First, you need to find out whether you need a COD (Complément
d’Objet Direct, not Call of Duty!) or a COI (Complément d’Objet
Indirect).

COD answers the question: “Who?” or “What?“

COI answers the question: “To whom?” or “To what?“

And here are the different forms:

Direct object Indirect object

1st person [s] me me
2nd person [s] te te
3rd person [s] le; la lui
1st person [p] nous nous
2nd person [p] vous vous
3rd person [p] les leur

• Let’s take an example:

Julie donne une pomme.

“Julie gives an apple.”

Subject + Verb + ?

Julie donne quoi ?

“Julie gives what?”

Une pomme.

“An apple.”

Une pomme is our COD.

Now, we’ll replace une pomme with a direct pronoun and it changes the
order of the words:

Subject + Direct Pronoun + Verb.

Julie la donne.

“Julie gives it.”

• Let’s take another example:

Julie parle aux enfants.

“Julie talks to the kids.”

Subject + Verb + ?

Julie parle à qui ?

“Julie talks to whom?”

Aux enfants.

“To the kids.”

Aux enfants is our COI.

Now, we’ll replace aux enfants with an indirect pronoun and change
the order to:
Subject + Indirect Pronoun + Verb.

Julie leur parle.

“Julie talks to them.”

• And finally, let’s see how to use direct pronouns and indirect
pronouns in one single sentence. What’s Julie up to?

Julie donne une pomme aux enfants.

“Julie gives an apple to the kids.”

We already know that une pomme is COD and aux enfants is COI.

The sentence is built as follows:

Subject + Direct Pronoun + Indirect Pronoun + Verb

Julie la leur donne.

“Julie gives it to them.”

Okay, that was heavy! Let’s relax a bit with some more examples to help
you get familiar with the structures:

• Julie donne une pomme à Cyril. (That’s me!)

Julie me la donne.
“Julie gives it to me.”

• Julie donne une pomme au lecteur. (She gives it to the reader,

that’s you!)

Julie te la donne.

“Julie gives it to you.”

• Julie te les donne.

“Julie gives it to you.”

(But it’s plural; there are several apples.)

• Julie me les présente.

“Julie introduces them to me.”

• Julie te la présente.

“Julie introduces her to you.”

• Julie nous la présente.

“Julie introduces her to us.”

 Elle la lui donne. (“She gives it to her.”)

4- Reflexive Pronouns

I’d like to tell you that the worst part is behind us, but reflexive
pronouns are still in the way!

Reflexive pronouns are used with reflexive verbs, such as:

• Se laver
• S’appeler
• S’intéresser
While there’s nothing inherently complex about them, English-speakers
can find them quite arbitrary. (Why are s’habiller or s’appeler reflexive
verbs while manger is not?)

The general idea is that verbs that imply an action on yourself are
reflexive, and can usually be translated using an additional “oneself.”

For example:

• Nous nous lavons.

“We wash [ourselves].”

• Je m’appelle Bob.

“I call [myself] Bob.” = “My name is Bob.”

• Il se demande.

“He asks himself.”

• Elle s’habille.

“She dresses [herself].”

Many verbs involving a motion of some sort are also reflexive.

• Il s’éloigne.
“He moves [himself] away.”

• Je m’assois.

“I sit [myself].”

Reflexive Examples
Je me lève.
1st person [s] me
“I stand up.”
Tu te demandes.
2nd person [s] te
“You wonder.”
Elle se promène.
3rd person [s] se
“She strolls.”
Nous nous endormons.
1st person [p] nous
“We fall asleep.”
Vous vous rasez.
2nd person [p] vous
“You shave.”
Ils s’inscrivent.
3rd person [p] se
“They register.”
→ Make sure you visit our vocabulary list about French’s most
useful pronouns, with audio recordings to practice your
pronunciation. It’s freely available on FrenchPod101.

2. Impersonal Pronouns
1- Impersonal Subject Pronouns

If you like to keep it to yourself and never show your true feelings, you
have a lot in common with impersonal pronouns! Let’s see how to stay
vague in French, starting with the impersonal subject pronouns:
 • Ça; ce; c’

“It”

• Il

“It”

What? Did you expect another big flashy tab, full of rows and colorful
columns?

Now, here’s how to use them:

• Ça commence maintenant.

“It starts now.”

• Ce n’est la première fois.

“It is not the first time.”

• C’est terminé.

“It is over.”

• Il est impossible d’entrer.

“It is impossible to enter.”

 • Il est temps.

“It is time.”

2- French Adverbial Pronouns

Not an overwhelming list either, but I can’t stress enough how

important they are!

• y

“there”; “about it”

• en

“one”; “some”; “of it”; “of them”

y is used to replace à [quelque chose] (“to [something]”; “about

[something]”) or en [quelque chose] (“in [something]”)

This [something] is often a place, but not always, as long as it’s

inanimate.

• Je veux aller à Paris.

“I want to go to Paris.”

Je veux y aller.
“I want to go there.”

• Je pense à mon avenir.

“I think about my future.”

J’y pense.

“I think about it.”

• Je crois en la science.

“I believe in science.”

J’y crois.

“I believe in it.”

en is used to replace de(s) ____ (“some ____”; “of ____”)

You’ll see it a lot when talking about quantities.

• J’ai une pomme.

“I have an apple.”

J’en ai une.

“I have one.”
 • J’ai deux frères.

“I have 2 brothers.”

J’en ai deux.

“I have two of them.”

• J’ai beaucoup de cheveux.

“I have lots of hair.”

J’en ai beaucoup.

“I have a lot of it.”

• Il a du temps.

“He has time.”

Il en a.

“He has some.”

 Il y en a des milliers. (“There are thousands of them.”)

3- Relative Pronouns

I’ll keep these relatively simple, as they can easily be compared to

English.

Of course, it’s never an exact translation, but it will give you a fairly
good idea of how to use them in a variety of contexts.

Tu penses qu’il va pleuvoir ?

que
“Do you think that it will rain?”
“that”
 Je sais que tu es là.
“I know that you are here.”
qui J’ai un fils qui m’aime.
“who” “I have a son who loves me.”
C’est la maison où je vis.
“This is the house where I live.”
où
“where”; “when”
Le jour où je t’ai rencontrée
“The day when I met you”
L’homme dont c’est le chapeau
“The man whose hat it is”
dont
“whose”; “that”
La personne dont tu parles
“The person [that] you’re talking about”
Le lit sur lequel nous dormons
“The bed on which we sleep”
lequel(s)
laquelle(s) Les rues dans lesquelles nous travaillons
“which”; “that” “The streets in which we are working”

/! You can’t use these to talk about people.

4- Demonstrative Pronouns

The demonstrative pronoun celui replaces something that was

mentioned earlier.

• J’aime le café mais pas celui de Starbucks.

“I like coffee, but not the one from Starbucks.”

Sure, you could also say:

J’aime le café mais pas le café de Starbucks.

“I like coffee, but not the coffee from Starbucks.”

But it sounds clumsy, doesn’t it?

This demonstrative pronoun has masculine, feminine, and plural forms:

celui C’est celui que je préfère.

Masc. [s]
“The” / “This” / “That one” “This is the one I prefer.”
ceux Ceux du fond
Masc. [p]
“These” / “Those” “Those in the back”
celle Je te donne celle que tu veux.
Fem. [s]
“The” / “This” / “That one” “I give you the one you want.”
celles Celles de gauche
Fem. [p]
“These” / “Those” “These on the left”

You can’t end a phrase with these demonstrative pronouns in their

base form, or put them right before a verb. They simply don’t like it!

Instead, you have to add a suffix. It can be either ci (here) or là (there).

• J’ai deux livres. Je te prête celui.

• J’ai deux livres, je te prête celui-ci.

“I have two books, I’ll lend you this one.”

• J’aime ces deux histoires mais je préfère celle-là.

“I love these two stories, but I prefer that one.”

 C’est celui que je préfère. (“This is the one I prefer.”)

5- Interrogative Pronouns

In case your brain is already melting out of your ears, let’s keep this one
as simple as possible. Nothing complicated about interrogative
pronouns, really!

qui Qui es-tu ?

“who” “Who are you?”
où Où allons-nous ?
“where” “Where are we going?”
quand Quand partez-vous ?
“when” “When do you leave?”
quoi A quoi penses-tu ?
“what” “What are you thinking about?”
lequel
Lequel tu préfères ?
“Which one do you prefer?”
lesquels
Lesquels sont les plus gros ?
“Which ones are the biggest?”
laquelle
Laquelle me va le mieux ?
“Which one suits me best?”
lesquelles
Lesquelles veux-tu voir ?
“which
“Which ones do you want to see?”
one”
quel Quelle heure est-il ?
quels “What time is it?”
quelle
quelles /! These aren’t technically pronouns (they’re interrogative adjectives) but it felt
“which” wrong not to include them. And they were crying.

6- Indefinite Pronouns

Indefinite pronouns are these vague fellows who don’t want to be too
specific about what’s going on or who’s involved. There are many of
them, and they prove to be very useful.

Here are a few of the most common ones:

tout Tout est possible.

“everything”; “anything”; “all” “Anything is possible.”
rien Rien n’est impossible.
“nothing” “Nothing is impossible.”
personne Personne n’est parfait.
“nobody” “Nobody’s perfect.”
chacun Chacun pour soi
“everyone”; “every man” “Every man for himself”
tout le monde Tout le monde est là ?
“everybody” “Is everybody here?”
quelqu’un Quelqu’un va venir.
“someone” “Someone will come.”
quelque chose Quelque chose te tracasse ?
“something” “Is there something bothering you?”
certains Certains sont venus.
“some [people]” “Some people came.”

I’m gonna say it again, but the key is to take it one step at a time.
Understanding French pronouns doesn’t happen overnight. Start
making sentences with personal subject pronouns, then keep building
from there!

• Sophie a acheté des pommes pour Nicolas.

• Elle a acheté des pommes pour Nicolas.
• Elle a acheté des pommes pour lui.
• Elle en a acheté pour lui.

Subject pronouns
Subject pronouns replace a subject in a sentence, rather than an object. Below is a
table with all of the French subject pronouns you need to know:
French subject pronouns table

French English pronoun French pronoun example in a senten

pronoun
Je I Je suis content (I am pleased)
Tu You (singular) Tu es content (You are pleased
Il/elle/on He/she/one Il est content/elle est contente/on est content (He is pleased/she i
Nous We Nous sommes contents (we are pleased - mixed group or group o
pleased - group of women)
Vous You (plural or formal Vous êtes contents (you are pleased. - mixed group or group of m
singular) group of women)
Ils/elles They (plural) Ils sont contents (they are pleased - mixed group or group of men
group of women)

As you can see from our examples above, pronouns are also a crucial part of French
conjugation. Unlike in English, using a personal pronoun changes the spelling of
both the verb and the adjective in a sentence.

Stress pronouns
Let’s have a look at stress pronouns, or pronoms toniques. Remember, people tend
to use on instead of nous in spoken French, so they have the same stressed
pronouns here.
French stressed pronouns / pronoms toniques

Pronom sujet Pronom toniqu

Je Moi (me)
Tu Toi (you singular)
ll/elle Lui/elle (him/her)
Nous/on Nous (us)
Vous Vous (plural)
Ils/elles Eux/elles (them masc/them fem)

So, when do we use pronoms toniques? As we’ve just seen, one way we use them is
to emphasize and reinforce a subject pronoun.

Have a look at the mini dialogue below to understand this:

• Sandra: Vous avez des personnalités similaires ? (Do you have similar
personalities?)
• Benjamin: Non, moi, je suis assez timide mais lui, il adore sortir avec ses
amis. (No, I’m quite shy but he loves going out with his friends.)
• Sandra: Toi, timide? Non, tu es très sociable! (You, shy? No, you’re very
sociable!)

Another way we use pronoms toniques is when a sentence has more than one
subject.

You’ll see this in the examples below:

• Elisa et moi sommes trop bavardes. On n'arrête pas de parler ! (Elisa and I
are too chatty. We don’t stop talking!)
• Tes amis et toi, vous êtes drôles. Vous faites des blagues tout le temps ! (You
and your friends are funny. You make jokes all the time!)

We can also use pronoms toniques to ask and answer questions:

• Elle est espagnole, et lui ? (She’s Spanish, and him?)

• Sophie: Qui va à la plage ? Rebecca: Eux. (Sophie: Who’s going to the
beach? Rebecca: They are.)

We can also use pronoms toniques after prepositions such as chez, avec, pour,
sans, à:

• Elle va faire la fête avec elles. (She is going partying with them.)
• Nous avons acheté un cadeau pour lui. (We have bought a present for him.)
• Mon copain vient chez moi ce soir. (My boyfriend is coming over to my place
this evening.)

Direct object pronouns

You use direct object pronouns – or les pronoms compléments d'objet direct (COD)
— when you’re replacing an object which is being directly acted on by the verb in the
sentence.

Let’s look at an example:

 • Louise les a mis sur la table. (Louise put them on the table.)

In this example sentence, the direct object pronoun is les (or “them”) in English.
Here, it replaces the object that the woman put on the table. In order for this
sentence to make sense, the reader needs to know what object Louise put on the
table – so you’ll have the object noun in a previous, connected sentence.

Below is a table to help you remember direct object pronouns:

French direct object pronouns table

French pronoun E
Me/m' Me
Te/t’ You
Le/l' La/l' Him/her/it
Nous Us
Vous You (plural)
Les Them

Indirect object pronouns

If an object in a sentence is receiving the direct object, it’s known as the indirect
object in French (and in English too.) You’ll use an indirect object pronoun – or les
pronoms compléments d'objet indirect (COI) – if you’re looking to replace it with a
pronoun in a sentence.

Here’s an example:

• James lui a donné le ballon. (James gave the ball to him.)

Like with direct object pronouns, you’re probably thinking about the word order of this
sentence, and how it differs from an English sentence containing an indirect object
pronoun. That’s because in French, indirect object pronouns are placed at the
beginning of the sentence, after the subject doing the action.

Here’s a table to help you memorize the different indirect object pronouns.
French indirect object pronouns table

French pronoun E
Me/m' Me
Te/t’ You
Lui Him/her/it
Nous Us
Vous You (plural)
Leur Them

Reflexive pronouns
Like in English, French also uses reflexive pronouns. You’ll be using them alongside
reflexive verbs, which you’ll use in a sentence in order to describe a subject acting
towards themselves.

For example:

• Je me suis habillée. (I dressed myself.)

In terms of word order, a reflexive pronoun falls between the subject and the verb in
the sentence. Here’s a table to help you remember the different reflexive pronouns in
French:

Need to improve your French vocabulary?

Busuu provides hundreds of free online lessons to help you memorize common
words and phrases paired with pronouns in French.
 Get started for free

French reflexive pronouns table

French subject pronoun + reflexive English subject pronoun + reflexive

pronoun pronoun
Je + me/m’ I + myself Je me suis habillée
Tu + te/t’ You + yourself Tu t'es habillé (Yo
Il/elle/on + se/s’ He/she/one + himself/herself/oneself Il/elle/on s'est habi
himself/herself/one
Nous + nous We + ourselves Nous nous somme
Vous + vous You + yourselves Vous vous êtes hab
Ils/elles + se/s’ They + themselves Ils se sont habillés

Relative pronouns
Next, let’s move onto relative pronouns. You’ll use these when you want to talk about
something you’ve just mentioned in the main sentence clause, and now you want to
mention it again in another clause.

The six relative pronouns in French are:

1. Qui
2. Que
3. Lequel
4. Où
5. Dont
6. Quoi

Let’s look at how they work in a sentence. Que replaces the direct object – or subject
– in the subordinate clause in a sentence. It usually means “what”. Qui, on the other
hand, replaces the subject or indirect object in the subordinate clause in a sentence.
It usually means “who”. For a more in-depth look at que vs qui, why not read our
guide?

Have you noticed that we use the pronouns qui and que to link two parts of a
sentence?

For example:

• J'espère que la région vous plaira. (I hope that you like the area.)
• Je cherche quelqu'un qui aime les animaux. (I am looking for someone who
likes animals.)

How to use lequel

Lequel is a little more complex as a relative pronoun than qui and que. It helps to
remember that the equivalent in English is usually “which”. You tend to use it for
indirect objects (and never subjects), following from prepositions like pour, dans, or
de.

For example:

• Le journal dans lequel j'écris un article. (The journal in which I am writing a

paper.)
• Le blog pour lequel j'écris. (The blog for which I am writing for.)
You’ll also need to remember that lequel has to agree with the gender of the noun,
as well as whether the noun is singular or plural:

• Masculine – lequel
• Feminine – laquelle
• Masculine plural – lesquels
• Feminine plural – lesquelles

If you’re using a preposition like à or de, this will also change the spelling of lequel.

Here’s a quick list so you can remember the different forms:

• à and lequel – auquel

• à and laquelle – à laquelle
• à and lesquels – auxquels
• à and lesquelles – auxquelles
• de and lequel – duquel
• de and laquelle - de laquelle
• de and lesquels – desquels
• de and lesquelles – desquelles

Using où

Now let’s look at où.

Où can be either “where” and “when”. You tend to use this relative pronoun when
you need to talk about time and place.

Here are a couple of examples:

• C'est la maison où nous avons grandi. (This is the house where we grew up.)
• C'est l'année où ils se sont rencontrés. (That’s the year they met each other.)

Finally, dont is similar to the English for “whose”, “whom”, or “of which”. You can use
it for both people and objects.

For example:

• Le chien, dont le collier était lâche. (The dog, whose collar was loose.)

Quoi or “what”

Finally, let’s look at quoi, or “what”. Wait, but we’ve just covered que which often
means “what”.

That’s right, French has another word which generally translates into “what”.
However, quoi as a relative pronoun is useful if you want to be able to talk about an
unknown antecedent – which means what you’re talking about is unknown (or
indefinite).
This might be less abstract sounding once you’ve seen an example:

• Dis-moi ce à quoi tu penses. (Tell me what you think).

In this example, what the other person thinks is an unknown, and so quoi works
perfectly fine here.

Interrogative pronouns
As you might have noticed, some interrogative pronouns (pronoms interrogatifs) are
the same as relative pronouns – you have qui (who), que (what), lequel (which),
and quoi (what). But in this case, they’re used slightly differently. Interrogative
pronouns usually come at the beginning of the sentence, and they’re used when
you’re asking a question.

Indefinite pronouns
Indefinite pronouns, or les pronoms indéfinis aren’t used in replacement of a noun.
They are used to mention things or beings whose identity or quantity is unknown or
uncertain. The main indefinite pronouns in French are: aucun,
aucune (none), quelque
chose (something), quelqu’un (someone), chacun/chacune (each/everyone),
and tout (everything).

Possessive pronouns
Les pronoms possessifs or possessive pronouns are used to replace a noun in a
sentence which belongs to the subject.

For example:

• Cette voiture ? C'est la mienne. (That car? It’s mine.)

As you can see, the pronom possessif replaces the noun completely in the second
sentence, because we already know what the noun is. In French, it’s important to
remember that the pronom possessif needs to agree with the gender and number of
the noun it’s replacing, rather than the subject which possesses the noun.

To help you remember this, look at the table below:

French possessive pronouns table

Possessive pronoun Masculine Feminine Masculine plu

mine le mien la mienne les miens
yours le tien la tienne les tiens
his/hers/its le sien la sienne les siens
ours le nôtre la nôtre les nôtres
yours le vôtre la vôtre les vôtres
theirs le leur la leur les leurs

Demonstrative pronouns
Demonstrative pronouns in French help you to pick out objects in a group.

They are:

• Celui – the one/that one (masc, singular)

• Celle – the one/that one (fem, singular)
• Ceux – these ones/those ones (masc, plural)
• Celles – these ones/those ones (fem, plural)

For example, you’d say:

• Je préfère celui-là. (I like that one better.)

As you can see in this example, celui comes with là. This is a suffix, which tells you
how near or far away the object is. If the object is far away, you include là. If the
object is close by, you include the suffix ci. They are comparable to “that one” and
“this one” in English, respectively.

The adverbial pronoun en

En replaces any noun where there is the preposition de in a sentence. It replaces
both de and the noun. It’s usually used in order to replace a quantity, or place.

For example:

• Je n’en ai pas. (I don’t have any.)

The adverbial pronoun y

Y is similar to the English “there”, as it tends to replace a noun in a sentence which
has the preposition à or en.

For example:

J'y vois des cailloux. (I see some rocks there.)

While we know that 12 types of French pronouns are a lot to remember, we hope
that this guide can be a useful reference point for you in your French learning
journey!

By becoming comfortable with French pronouns over time, you can improve your
fluency in both speech and writing, making you sound closer to a native speaker.
What’s a Pronoun?

A pronoun is a small word which replaces a noun.

For example, if I am talking about my friend Tina, I can say:

Tina picks flowers.
Tina likes flowers.
Tina is happy.

Or, I could replace “Tina” and use a pronoun, in this case “she”.

Why “she” and not “her”? or “hers”?

Because in this sentence, “Tina” is the grammatical subject.

So I need to pick a subject pronoun.

How to Pick the Right French Pronoun?

Understanding the value of the word the pronoun will replace

First, you have to figure out the grammatical value of the word you
want to replace.

• Tina donne des fleurs.

Qui donne ? Tina donne.
Qui + verb is the grammatical question you ask to figure out the
subject.
Since “Tina” answers “qui + verb”, Tina is the subject.

Therefore, I will choose a subject pronoun to replace Tina.

The list of French subject pronoun is:
• Je, tu, il, elle, on, nous, vous, ils, elles (s is silent).
Tina is feminine, singular, a third person (she).
So what would “she” be in French?

“She” would be the feminine singular pronoun: “elle”.

If you don’t understand “feminine & singular”, read my article
about French number and gender before you continue reading this
article

• Tina donne des fleurs.

(Qui donne ? Tina donne = Tina is the subject)
Tina is one person and she’s a girl/woman.
Elle donne des fleurs.
Important: we don’t have a special “it” form to replace a car, a book
etc… in French. Everything is either masculine or feminine, so “il”
or “elle”.

There are emerging French “neutral” pronouns for human beings

being used mostly within the LGBTQ+ community, such as “iel”, but
it’s not common practice yet.

The key to understanding French pronouns

This is often the biggest problem English speakers face when

dealing with pronouns. They don’t know how to figure out the
grammatical value of the noun they want to replace.

In English, there are not so many pronouns.

The choice between “she” or “her” or “hers” comes naturally to
your ear.
It takes about 10 years for a French kid to master all the different
French pronouns: they mostly learn by repetition, although they do
also spend years learning the theory in French class.

Ideally, kids learn pronouns by repetition and correction: their

parents and teachers keep correcting their mistakes, and then the
kid develops an understanding of what pronoun s/he should use in
different sentence structures.

So, you may be able to learn the French pronouns by mimicking

French sentences featuring pronouns (with audio of course), like
French kids do. But unless you have someone constantly correcting
you, this way not be the best nor the fastest way.

Actually understanding the logic behind why we use this or that

pronoun will be a tremendous help to understanding French
pronouns. This “logic” is called grammar.

To really understand French pronouns, I suggest you get

my intermediate French learning method, which will clearly explain
French pronouns to you, in a logical and gradual way, with many
examples and exercises.

The pronouns are then featured within the context of a low

intermediate story.
 À Moi Paris Audiobook Method
A new approach to learning both traditional and modern French logically
structured for English speakers.

(836 Reviews)

More Details & Audio Samples

Now, in French, you have many kinds of pronouns.

This lesson will give you essential pointers, and offer simplified
explanations: I cannot explain all the subtleties of French pronouns
in one article when entire books are written on this subject!

I will however focus on what usually confuses English speakers.

What is a Subject Pronoun?

The subject is the entity that does the action of the verb.

There is an easy way to find the subject of a sentence. First, find the
verb. Then ask: “who + verb” or “what + verb”. The answer to that
question will be your subject.

French Subject Pronouns

The list of French subject pronouns to replace one single entity is:

• Je (or j’ + vowel or h) = I

• Tu = you singular informal

• Il = it, he
Long “eel” sound

• Elle = it, she

Short clipped “el” sound

• On – this one is more difficult to understand. It used to

mean “ one “, but nowadays, “on” is used in casual French
to say “ we “, instead of the now more formal/written form
“ nous” (see below). Here is my article about the pronoun
on in French.

• Vous = you, one person, formal

If the pronoun replaces several entities, you’ll choose among the
list of plural French subject pronouns.

• Nous = we
S is silent, but becomes Z when followed by a vowel or an
h.
Nowadays, “ nous “ is used in a formal context and in
writing mostly. In conversation, we tend to use “on”.
 • Vous = you plural (both formal and informal)
S is silent, but becomes Z + vowel or an h.

• Ils = they, replacing masculine entities; or they, replacing a

mix of masculine and feminine entities –
S is silent, but becomes Z when it’s followed by a vowel or
an h.

• Elles = they, replacing feminine entities ONLY –

S is silent, but becomes Z when it’s followed by a vowel or
an h.

No Special “It” Pronoun in French

We don’t have a special “it” form comparable to the English “it”.

Everything: objects, concepts, animals, people are either a “he” or a
“she”. This is a difficult concept for English speakers to grasp at
first.

You’ll find some expressions that use an impersonal object

pronoun like “il pleut” (it’s raining) but they are expressions, like
idioms. We’re far from the English “it” used to replace a car…

• La voiture est rouge : elle est rouge.

The car is red: it’s red.
Subject pronouns, their use and pronunciation is explained in
depth, with many examples and audio in my beginner French
learning method.

French Stress Pronouns

Stress pronouns (also called “disjunctive” and “emphatic”

pronouns) are used:
 1. after “c’est”,

2. alone (as in pointing to someone to say “him”, or raising

your hand to get picked),

3. and before and after prepositions/conjunctions.

• c’est moi.

• Moi, moi !! (shouting it out to get picked).

• Avec toi… Lui et moi.

The list of French stress pronouns is moi, toi, LUI, ELLE, soi, nous,
vous, EUX, ELLES.

Note that in stress pronouns, LUI is used only for MASCULINE

singular, and also carefully learn the plural masculine EUX –
pronounced like the “e” in “je”.

The stress pronoun for “on” is “soi” but it’s not very used in French.

• On le fait soi-même.
One does it oneself
we do it ourselves, everybody does it for everybody…
The French “on” is explained here.
Subject and Stress pronouns are thoroughly explained in chapters
1, 2 and 9 of my downloadable French audiobook À Moi Paris Level
1. I use many examples and then feature the pronouns in a
beginner level bilingual story.
 À Moi Paris Audiobook Method
A new approach to learning both traditional and modern French logically
structured for English speakers.

(836 Reviews)

More Details & Audio Samples

Direct and Indirect French Object Pronouns

The key to figuring out French direct and indirect object pronouns

As I explained in the first paragraph, the key to figuring out what

pronoun you should use to replace a French word is understanding
the grammatical value of that word.
In order to do that, you will ask a very specific grammatical
question.

To find out the COD (complement d’objet direct) and the COI
(complement d’objet indirect) it is essential that you ask your
grammatical questions IN FRENCH.

The problem with direct and indirect objects is that English may
take a COI where French takes a COD… So if you ask your
grammatical question in English, you may get the wrong answer:
for example ‘to call someone’ takes a direct object in English.
“Téléphoner à quelqu’un” takes an indirect object in French.

Your grammar questions are:

1. subject + verb + qui/quoi ? = COD

2. subject + verb + à qui = COI

Now let’s take an example, it will make much more sense this way.

• Tina donne les fleurs à Paul

Start by finding out the direct object by asking your direct object
question in French.
Subject + verb + qui/quoi ?
Tina donne quoi ?
Answer: Tina donne les fleurs
Les fleurs = COD

Now let’s look for the indirect object.

Subject + verb + à qui ?
Tina donne à qui ?
Answer: à Paul
À Paul = COI

If you understand this process, then you understand direct and

indirect objects in French.

Once you’ve found the word you want to replace, you choose the
right pronoun in the list of pronouns. Look at it as a fun mind game!

French direct object pronouns

The list of French COD pronouns is:

• Me, te, le/la, nous, vous, les

Note me, te, le/la become m’, t’, l’ + vowel or h in elision
So for my example, “les fleurs” is replaced by “les”
= Tina les donne à Paul.
Tina gives them to Paul.

French indirect object pronouns

The list of French COI pronouns is:

• Me, te, LUI, nous, vous, LEUR – note me and te become m’

or t’ + vowel or h
So for my example, “à Paul” is replaced by “lui”
= Tina lui donne les fleurs.
Tina gives him the flowers

So, for a COI, lui means him AND her (unlike stress pronouns
where lui means him, elle means her).
Important:
Note that for both object groups, me, te, nous, vous are the
same.

So the pronoun only change between le, la, l’, les, lui, leur.

Object pronouns usually go right before the CONJUGATED

verb (after the”ne” in the negative), and there are lots of glidings in
spoken French (use my French audiobooks to get accustomed to
understanding spoken French).

Using several object pronouns in the same sentence

You can use several object pronouns in the same sentence.

• Tina donne les fleurs à Paul

= Tina les lui donne.
Tina gives them to him.
Except for the imperative mood, the order will be the following :

Subject
+ (ne)
+ me / te / se / nous / vous
+ le / la / l’ / les
+ lui / leur
+ verb
+ (pas).

Obviously, this is just a shortcut: you cannot learn your pronoun

order with a list like that!
You need to practice a lot so this order becomes second nature to
you. Glidings are super strong over these pronouns, in particular
the ones ending in “e”, so stay focused on the context since lots of
time, one pronoun will disappear in spoken French when people
don’t enunciate…

Direct and Indirect object pronouns are thoroughly explained +

exercises + featured in an intermediate level story in my French
audiobook À Moi Paris Level 3.

Other Types of French Pronouns

The French pronoun Y and En

The French adverbial pronouns Y and En follow the same kind of

logic. For each pronouns there are 2 main points to understand.

The French pronoun en

1 – We use “en” in French to replace a noun modified by a notion of
quantity.
Je bois de l’eau = j’en bois.
I drink water = I drink (some)
Je voudrais beaucoup de sucre = j’en voudrais beaucoup.
I would like a lot of sugar = I would like a lot.
J’achète trois pommes = j’en achète trois
I’m buying three apples = I’m buying three.

2 – The French pronoun En Replaces a THING Introduced by a Verb

Followed by “de, du, de la, de l’, des”
Je rêve de mes vacances = j’en rêve
I’m dreaming about my vacation = I’m dreaming about it.
Je parle de mon voyage = j’en parle
I’m talking about my trip = I’m talking about it.

More about the French pronoun en – with audio.

The French pronoun y

1 – The French Pronoun Y Replaces a PLACE.
Je vais à Paris = j’y vais
I’m going to Paris = I’m going there

2 – The French Pronoun Y also Replaces A THING (never a person)

introduced by “à, au, aux, à l’, à la”
Je pense à mon travail = j’y pense
I’m thinking about my work = I’m thinking about it.

More about the pronoun Y in French in my free lesson with audio.

The pronouns Y and En are thoroughly explained + exercises +

featured in the bilingual story of my intermediate French audio
method À Moi Paris Level 3.

French Demonstrative pronouns

Demonstrative pronouns – this one, that one, the one[s], these,

those in English – refer to a noun which was previously-mentioned
in the sentence.

• celui – masculine singular

• celle – feminine singular

• ceux – masculine plural

 • celles – feminine plural
Tu aimes celui-ci ? Moi je préfère celui-là !
You like this one? I like that one better!

French Possessive pronouns

Possessive pronouns – mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, theirs in

English – refer to a noun which was previously mentioned in the
sentence.

Just like French possessive adjectives, French possessive pronouns

have a double logic entry:

1. you have to select the pronoun according to the subject

doing the action – so just like in English chose among
mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, theirs.

2. you also have to select the pronoun according to the

possession being replaced: is-it feminine or masculine?
Singular or plural?
To understand the logic, please refer to my article on French
possessive adjectives: exactly the same logic applies when
choosing a French possessive pronoun.

• le mien, la mienne, les miens, les miennes – mine

• le tien, la tienne, les tiens, les tiennes – yours (for “tu”)

• le sien, la sienne, les siens, les siennes – his or hers

• le nôtre, la nôtre, les nôtres – ours

• le vôtre, la vôtre, les vôtres – yours (for “vous”)

• le leur, la leur, les leur – theirs

Tu veux que je te prêtre mon livre ? Non merci: j’ai le mien.
Would you like me to lend you my book? No thanks: I have mine.

French Indefinite pronouns

Indefinite pronouns are unspecific and are used in place of nouns.

autre(s) another one, others

certain(e)s certain ones

chacun(e) each one

on one

plusieurs several

quelque chose something

quelqu’un someone

quelques-uns, quelques-unes some, a few

quiconque anyone

soi oneself

tel, telle, tels, telles one, someone

tout everything
 toutes, tous everyone

tout le monde everyone

un, l’un, une, l’une one

French relative pronouns

Relative pronouns are difficult to explain because they depend on

the grammatical fonction of the word they replace. And translating
won’t work because we’d often use a relative pronoun in French
when we’d use none in English.

Relative pronouns are explained in my French audiobook method –

intermediate level.

Subject who, what

Qui
Indirect object (person) which, that, whom

Que Direct object whom, what, which,

Lequel, laquelle, lesquels, lesquelles Indirect object (thing) what, which, that

Object of de of which, from which

Dont
Indicate possession whose

Où Indicate place or time when, where, which

Now that I’ve listed the different kind of pronouns, what I would
really like to get into is why French pronouns are confusing for
students.
What is really Confusing About French Pronouns

French pronouns are confusing because the same words have

different values:

Nous & Vous – The Best French Pronouns!

Nous and vous are the form for almost all pronouns: subject, stress,
object, reflexive, etc… pretty much any pronouns except for the
possessive pronouns.
So if you have to write a French essay, do it at the nous or vous
form, you won’t have to stress much about your pronouns!!

Lui

Lui may translate as:

1. for/with/by… him – masculine singular only when it is a

stress pronoun
Je vais avec lui – I’m going with him

2. “him or her” when it is an indirect object pronoun.

Je lui parle – I’m talking to him/ to her

Leur

Leur may translate as:

1. them when it’s an indirect object pronoun.

Je leur donne mon adresse – I give them my address.

2. but it’s also the form of the possessive adjective “their”:

Voici leur maison – Here is their house.

Le, la, les

Le, la, l’ and les could be direct object pronouns.
Je la regarde – I’m watching her
Le, la, l’ and les could also be a definite articles meaning “the”.
La maison de la boulangère – the house of the baker (the baker’s
house)

Que

“Que” may be translated as what or that or who…

Que fais-tu – what are you doing?
La fille que je regarde – the girl (who) I’m looking at.
La voiture que Pierre veut – the car (that) Pierre wants.

Qui

“Qui” may be translated as who or which…

Qui veut du pain ? Who wants bread?
Je regarde la fille qui parle à Pierre – I’m looking at the girl (who is)
talking to Pierre.
Je regarde la voiture qui est rouge – I’m looking at the car which is
red.

Unlock Direct or Indirect Object With French Verbs!

To understand the difference between direct and indirect object,

it’s interesting to take a closer look at your French verb.

A LOT OF FRENCH VERBS take direct object pronouns.

ONLY A FEW FRENCH VERBS take indirect object pronouns:

1. acheter à – to buy from

 2. emprunter à – to borrow from

3. prêter à – to lend to

4. offrir à – to give (as a present) to

5. rendre à – to give back to

6. donner à – to give to

7. vendre à – to sell to

8. parler à – to speak to, talk to

9. demander à – to ask from

10. dire à – to say to, tell

11. téléphoner à – to phone / call

12. écrire à – to write to

13. sourire à – to smile to

14. répondre à – to answer to

15. souhaiter à – to wish to

16. envoyer à – to send to

17. raconter à – to tell to

18. the list goes on but these are the most common ones.
You may find this list of French verbs followed by the preposition
à useful.

So the best thing to do is to drill with these French verbs and “lui &
leur”… je lui téléphone, nous leur vendons….
Subtleties of French Object Pronouns

As I said earlier, I cannot cover all the subtilities of French pronouns

in one article… It would take entire books. But here are some
remarks I hope will help you understand the French pronouns
better.

Animate versus inanimate

Note that the COD may be a thing or a person, an animal… So

animate or inanimate.

1. Je regarde la télé.
Je regarde quoi ? La télé.
Je la regarde.

2. Je regarde ma fille.
Je regarde qui ? Ma fille.
Je la regarde.
The COI is most of the time an animate being (a person or an
animal).
It can be an inanimate thing like a company (inanimate… but still
made of people), but it’s very unlikely that it would be a chair for
example… Of course one can always imagine crazy scenarios like in
the movie Cast-Away when Tom Hanks talks to his volleyball…

• Je parle à mon ami.

Je parle à qui ? à mon ami.
Je lui parle.
French pronouns – taking things further

I don’t know whether what I am going to say next is going to help

you or confuse you. However, give it a try, and if it doesn’t help,
then immediately forget about it.

Of course, these are shortcuts, I’m sure you’ll find examples where
this doesn’t’ work.

Direct, indirect, object, and stress pronouns have kind of the same
value. They have to do with “who” the subject does an action to.

And in French, the preposition is the key.

Subject + verb + someone/something = direct object

Je regarde Pierre = je le regarde
Subject + verb + à someone = most of the time indirect object (some
exceptions when some verbs with an “à” construction require a stress
pronouns)
Je donne (la fleur) à Pierre = Je lui donne (la fleur).

Subject + verb + à something = Y

Elle pense à son école = elle y pense

Subject + verb + chez, pour, avec, de . . . someone = stress pronoun

Je vais chez mes parents = Je vais chez eux.

Subject + verb + de something = en

Il parle de son école = il en parle

List of French Pronouns

For what it’s worth, here is the list of French pronouns. This way
you’ll have the correct terms and you can look more into it if you
want.

I’ve included a translation… I don’t like to do it because there are

many translations possible for these French pronouns. I hope that if
you remember one thing from this guide is that translating
pronouns from English is unlikely to work!

autre other indefinite pronoun

ça this indefinite demonstrative pronoun

ce this indefinite demonstrative pronoun

ceci this indefinite demonstrative pronoun

ce dont of which indefinite relative pronoun

cela that indefinite demonstrative pronoun

celui, celle, ceux, celles the one(s) demonstrative pronoun

ce que what indefinite relative pronoun

ce qui who indefinite relative pronoun

certain(e)s some indefinite pronoun

chacun/e each indefinite pronoun

d’autres others indefinite pronoun

dont of which relative pronoun

elle she / it stress pronoun / subject pronoun

elles they stress pronoun / subject pronoun

en some adverbial pronoun

eux them stress pronoun

il he /it subject pronoun

ils they subject pronoun

je / j’ I subject pronoun

la her /it direct object pronoun

le him/it direct object pronoun

lequel, laquelle, lesquels, lesquelles which one(s) interrogative pronoun / relative pronoun

les them direct object pronoun

leur them indirect object pronoun

le/la leur, les leurs theirs possessive pronoun

lui him indirect object pronoun / stress pronoun

me (m’) me direct object pronoun / indirect object pronoun / refl

le mien, la mienne, les miens, les miennes mine possessive pronoun

moi me stress pronoun

le/la nôtre, les nôtres our(s) possessive pronoun

nous we / us direct object / indirect object / reflexive /stress / su

on we indefinite pronoun / subject pronoun

où when relative pronoun

personne noone negative pronoun

plusieurs several indefinite pronoun

que that / what interrogative pronoun / relative pronoun

quelque chose something indefinite pronoun

quelques-un(e)s some indefinite pronoun

quelqu’un someone indefinite pronoun

qui who interrogative / relative pronoun

quiconque anyone relative pronoun

quoi what relative pronoun

rien nothing negative pronoun

se one reflexive pronoun

le sien, la sienne, les siens, les siennes his/hers possessive pronoun

soi one indefinite pronoun / stress pronoun

te you direct object pronoun / indirect object pronoun / refl

tel, telle, tels, telles one indefinite pronoun

le tien, la tienne, les tiens, les tiennes your(s) possessive pronoun

toi you stress pronoun

tout everything neutral pronoun

tous, toutes everyone indefinite pronoun

tu you subject pronoun

un, une one indefinite pronoun

le/la vôtre, les vôtres your(s) possessive pronoun

vous you direct object / indirect object / reflexive / stressed /

y there adverbial pronoun