How to Use Direct Object Pronouns in French

In this section, we’ll learn how French uses words such as le, la, l’ and les to replace people and things, avoid repetition and form useful expressions such as ‘Je le trouve intéressant’ and ‘Je l’ai trouvé captivant.’

This is a long one, so grab a coffee, prepare, go as deep as you want (we can always come back to this if needed) and absorb what you can.

We guarantee this topic is worth it – because it answers some of those questions around “what are all these little words in French and how do I use them correctly!” As well as making your French more efficient and more natural…

Shall we get stuck in?

Say it without repeating it

Consider these two sentences:

J’ai trouvé le film captivant.
I found the film captivating.

Je l’ai trouvé captivant.
I found it captivating.

The second sentence avoids repeating le film. The small word l’ replaces it.

This is an example of a direct object pronoun.

Direct object pronouns may sound like an abstract grammar topic, but they are extremely useful. They allow you to say things such as:

Je le trouve intéressant.
I find it interesting.

Je la trouve originale.
I find it original.

Je les connais.
I know them.

Je l’ai adoré.
I loved it.

We will begin with these useful expressions and then look at the grammar behind them.

1. Begin with a useful phrase

You already know how to give an opinion by naming the thing you are describing:

Je trouve le film captivant.
I find the film captivating.

Once it is clear that you are talking about the film, you do not need to repeat le film:

Je le trouve captivant.
I find it captivating.

The whole noun phrase le film has been replaced by le.

As we can see, the pronoun moves in front of the verb:

The past works in a similar way:

J’ai trouvé le film captivant.
Je l’ai trouvé captivant.

We will return to this past-tense construction later in the lesson.

2. Wait… What is a direct object?

Good question… A direct object is the person or thing directly affected by the action of the verb.

Consider this sentence:

Je regarde le film.
I am watching the film.

We can ask the question, what am I watching?

le film

In this case, “the film” is the direct object of regarde.

It follows the verb directly. In other words, there is no preposition such as à or de between the verb and the object.

Je regarde le film.
Je le regarde.

Here is another example:

Je connais Marie.
I know Marie.

Who do I know?

Marie

So, in the same way, to avoid repetition, we can replace Marie with a direct object pronoun:

Je la connais.
I know her.

People and things

Direct object pronouns can replace both people and things:

The “who?” or “what?” question is a useful clue to deciding whether we can use a direct object pronoun, but the pattern of the French verb also matters, which we will come on to.

3. Le, la, l’ and les

These are the first four direct object pronouns we shall deal with. Let’s check out how they work:

Direct Object Pronouns

Choosing le, la, l’ or les

The pronoun you use depends on the gender and number of the noun being replaced.

What is being replaced? A masculine singular noun

Pronoun le

Example

Je regarde le film.

↓

Je le regarde.

What is being replaced? A feminine singular noun

Pronoun la

Example

Je lis la critique.

↓

Je la lis.

What is being replaced? A masculine or feminine singular noun when the following verb begins with a vowel sound

Pronoun l’

Example

J’écoute la chanson.

↓

Je l’écoute.

What is being replaced? A masculine or feminine plural noun

Pronoun les

Example

Je connais les acteurs.

↓

Je les connais.

Remember: le and la both become l’ before a verb beginning with a vowel sound or a silent h.

When do le and la become l’?

Le and la shorten to l’ when the verb that follows begins with a vowel sound or a silent h:

Je le regarde.
I am watching it.

Je l’écoute.
I am listening to it.

Je la trouve intéressante.
I find it interesting.

Je l’adore.
I love it.

The form l’ can therefore replace either a masculine or a feminine noun. The context tells you what it represents.

Compare:

J’écoute le podcast. → Je l’écoute.

J’écoute la chanson. → Je l’écoute.

In both sentences, le or la becomes l’ because the following verb is écoute.

Mini Quiz

Try it: choose the correct pronoun

Replace the highlighted noun phrase with le, la, l’ or les.

Question 1

Je regarde le film.

Je ___ regarde.

le la l’ les

Check answer

Question 2

Nous visitons l’exposition.

Nous ___ visitons.

le la l’ les

Check answer

Question 3

Tu écoutes la chanson.

Tu ___ écoutes.

le la l’ les

Check answer

Question 4

Elle connaît les acteurs.

Elle ___ connaît.

le la l’ les

Check answer

Question 5

J’adore ce livre.

Je ___ adore.

le la l’ les

Check answer

Notice:

L’exposition becomes la in Nous la visitons. The original noun begins with a vowel, but the pronoun is followed by the consonant sound in visitons.

Reset activity

4. Where does the pronoun go?

So, in an ordinary sentence, the direct object pronoun goes before the conjugated verb. (This is the verb part that is taking an ending). This is best shown through an illustration!

This word order may feel unusual at first because English normally places him, her or it after the verb:

I know her.

French places the pronoun before the verb:

Je la connais.

In a negative sentence

The pronoun still stays immediately before the verb:

Je ne le trouve pas intéressant.
I do not find it interesting.

Elle ne la connaît pas.
She does not know her.

Nous ne les regardons pas.
We are not watching them.

The negative structure surrounds the pronoun and the verb:

ne + pronoun + verb + pas

In a question

The position of the pronoun does not change:

Tu le regardes ?
Are you watching it?

Est-ce que vous la connaissez ?
Do you know her?

Pourquoi est-ce qu’il les achète ?
Why is he buying them?

5. The adjective still agrees

Replacing the noun does not remove its gender or number.

The adjective still describes the person or thing represented by the pronoun.

Although the noun is no longer written, the adjective continues to agree with it.

Je le trouve captivant.
Le film is masculine singular.

Je la trouve captivante.
La pièce is feminine singular.

Je les trouve captivantes.
Les chansons is feminine plural.

Try it out

Replace the noun

Rewrite each sentence without repeating the highlighted noun phrase.

Sentence 1

Je trouve le documentaire fascinant.

Your sentence

Check answer Show model answer

Sentence 2

Elle trouve la fin prévisible.

Your sentence

Check answer Show model answer

Sentence 3

Nous trouvons les acteurs excellents.

Your sentence

Check answer Show model answer

Sentence 4

Je trouve les chansons originales.

Your sentence

Check answer Show model answer

Reset activity

6. The complete direct object pronoun family

Now we know the mechanics, you’ll realise that le, la and les are part of a larger group. Because, just like we have a set of pronouns like je, tu, and so on, we also have a complete set of direct object pronouns. So let’s take a look at the full set:

Before a vowel sound

Just like le and la, me and te also shorten before a vowel sound:

Il m’écoute.
He listens to me.

Je t’entends.
I can hear you.

Him, her and it

French does not have a separate direct object pronoun for English it.

The form depends on the gender of the French noun:

le film → le

la chanson → la

This means that le can mean him or masculine it, while la can mean her or feminine it.

Je connais Paul. → Je le connais.
I know him.

Je connais cette chanson. → Je la connais.
I know it.

7. Direct object pronouns with an infinitive

Sometimes a sentence contains a conjugated verb followed by an infinitive:

Je vais regarder le film.
I am going to watch the film.

The film is the object of regarder, so the pronoun goes immediately before the infinitive:

Je vais le regarder.
I am going to watch it.

The useful pattern is:

conjugated verb + object pronoun + infinitive

Which verb receives the object?

Compare:

Je le veux.
I want it.

Here, le is the object of veux.

To:

Je veux le regarder.
I want to watch it.

Here, le is the object of regarder, so it stands before the infinitive.

Try it

Sentences with an infinitive

Rewrite each sentence using a direct object pronoun.

Sentence 1

Je vais regarder le documentaire.

Your sentence

Check answer Show model answer

Sentence 2

Nous voulons visiter l’exposition.

Your sentence

Check answer Show model answer

Sentence 3

Elle peut acheter les billets.

Your sentence

Check answer Show model answer

Sentence 4

Tu préfères écouter la chanson.

Your sentence

Check answer Show model answer

Reset activity

8. Direct object pronouns in the passé composé

Alright, let’s return to the example from the beginning of the lesson. You’ll remember our starting point!

J’ai trouvé le film captivant.

The passé composé contains two verb parts:

• ai — the auxiliary verb;
• trouvé — the past participle.

When the direct object is replaced by a pronoun, the pronoun goes before the auxiliary:

Je l’ai trouvé captivant.

So… The basic structure is:

subject + object pronoun + auxiliary + past participle

In these examples, avoir is the auxiliary verb.

Most ordinary verbs that take a direct object form their compound tenses with avoir. Reflexive verbs use être and belong to a related but separate pronoun pattern.

You may have noticed that the endings of some past participles have changed. That is the next step.

9. Agreement in compound tenses

With avoir, a past participle normally does not agree with a direct object that appears after it:

J’ai regardé la série.

However, when the direct object appears before the past participle, the past participle agrees with it in gender and number.

A direct object pronoun appears before the auxiliary, so this agreement becomes visible.

Returning to our opinion sentence

1. Masculine noun

J’ai trouvé le film captivant.

Je l’ai trouvé captivant.

Both trouvé and captivant relate to the masculine noun le film.

2. Feminine noun

J’ai trouvé l’exposition impressionnante.

Je l’ai trouvée impressionnante.

There are two agreements here:

• trouvée agrees with the preceding feminine direct object l’, which represents l’exposition;
• impressionnante agrees with the feminine noun being described.

You do not need to produce every ending immediately. Begin by recognising the pattern:

Je l’ai trouvé… — masculine
Je l’ai trouvée… — feminine

The plural forms follow the same principle:

Je les ai trouvés intéressants.
I found them interesting.
Masculine or mixed plural.

Je les ai trouvées intéressantes.
I found them interesting.
Feminine plural.

Try it

Compound tenses and agreement

Replace the highlighted noun phrase with a direct object pronoun.

Sentence 1

J’ai regardé le documentaire.

Your sentence

Check answer Show model answer

Sentence 2

J’ai regardé la série.

Your sentence

Check answer Show model answer

Sentence 3

Nous avons acheté les billets.

Your sentence

Check answer Show model answer

Sentence 4

Elle a lu les critiques.

Your sentence

Check answer Show model answer

Sentence 5

J’ai trouvé l’exposition impressionnante.

Your sentence

Check answer Show model answer

Reset activity

10. One important exception: commands

In most sentences, the direct object pronoun appears before the verb:

Tu le regardes.

In a positive command, however, le, la and les move after the verb and are joined to it with a hyphen:

Regarde-le !
Watch it!

Écoutez-la !
Listen to it!

Achetez-les !
Buy them!

In a negative command, the pronoun returns to its usual position before the verb:

Ne le regarde pas !
Do not watch it!

Ne les achetez pas !
Do not buy them!

This is an important exception, but the ordinary rule remains:

In most sentences, the object pronoun comes before the verb.

11. Direct object pronouns belong to a wider family

French has several groups of short pronouns that appear close to the verb.

They are related, but they do not all replace the same kind of expression.

Direct or indirect?

Compare these two sentences:

Je vois Marie.
I see Marie.

The verb voir takes its object directly:

Je la vois.

But:

Je parle à Marie.
I speak to Marie.

The verb pattern is parler à quelqu’un. Marie is introduced by à, so an indirect object pronoun is needed:

Je lui parle.

We’ll deal with this scenario, an indirect pronoun, separately, as these are also really useful. Although before we leave the topic, it’s worth noting one more indirect example…

A specific thing or an amount?

As we have seen, direct object pronouns normally replace a specific person or thing that has already been identified:

Tu veux le café ?
Do you want the coffee?
Oui, je le veux.
Yes, I want it.

But an amount introduced by du, de la or des is normally replaced by en:

Tu veux du café ?
Do you want some coffee?

Oui, j’en veux.
Yes, I would like some.

As mentioned, we are touching the tip of an iceberg here and this topic belongs to the wider pronoun system and can be explored separately!

12. What to remember

A direct object pronoun replaces a person or thing used directly after a verb.

Je regarde le film. → Je le regarde.

The principal third-person forms are:

le · la · l’ · les

The pronoun normally appears before the conjugated verb:

Je la connais.

With an infinitive, it appears before the infinitive it belongs to:

Je vais la regarder.

In a compound tense, it appears before the auxiliary:

Je l’ai regardée.

When a direct object comes before a past participle used with avoir, the past participle agrees with it:

le film → Je l’ai regardé.

la série → Je l’ai regardée.

Most importantly, these pronouns allow you to speak more naturally without repeating the same noun:

J’ai trouvé le film captivant.
Je l’ai trouvé captivant.

J’ai trouvé l’exposition impressionnante.
Je l’ai trouvée impressionnante.