Verb drill
Donne-le-moi: practise French commands with pronouns
Switch between donne-le-moi and ne me le donne pas. Practise hyphens, moi/toi, lui/leur and the special forms in vas-y and donne-m’en.
- B1
- 8 answers
- Checked all at once
- Accents count
- Learn this in the B1 notebook →
In short
In a positive command, put object pronouns after the verb with hyphens: Donne-le-moi ! In a negative command, put them before it: Ne me le donne pas ! Moi/toi become me/te again before the verb, with elision where needed.
Yellow the idea to rememberBlue French to learn
| Object / recipient | Positive with pronouns | Negative with pronouns |
|---|---|---|
| le billet / to me | Donne-le-moi ! | Ne me le donne pas ! |
| la lettre / to Nora | Montre-la-lui ! | Ne la lui montre pas ! |
| les messages / to your parents | Envoie-les-leur ! | Ne les leur envoie pas ! |
| me | Attends-moi ! | Ne m’attends pas ! |
| yourself | Lève-toi ! | Ne te lève pas ! |
For a positive command, le/la/les come before the recipient: Montrez-le-nous !, Donne-la-lui ! In negatives, me/te/nous/vous come before le/la/les, while lui/leur stay after them: Ne nous le montrez pas !, Ne la lui donne pas ! This is why changing only the hyphens leaves the order wrong.
Why is it donne-le-moi, not donne-le-me?
- Before directly attached y or en, va and affirmative -er commands add a linking s: Vas-y !, Donnes-en deux ! Compare Donne-le ! and N’y va pas !
- Before en, moi and toi shorten: Donne-m’en !, Prends-t’en deux ! Keep the apostrophe inside m’en or t’en and the hyphen before it.
- Elision returns before a vowel in a negative: Ne l’appelle pas !, Ne m’attends pas ! The pronoun is attached to the following word by an apostrophe, rather than to the verb by a hyphen.
Write the requested command
Write just the missing command group, including hyphens or apostrophes. Each hint tells you the object and recipient. Keep the printed ne and pas outside your answer. The last pair uses en for a quantity, with the number left after it.
1 · Positive commands
- ! (donner, tu: give le billet to me)
- ! (montrer, vous: show la lettre to Nora)
- ! (envoyer, tu: send les messages to your parents)
- ! (aller, tu: go there)
2 · Negative commands and quantities
- Ne pas ! (donner, tu: do not give le billet to me)
- Ne pas ! (envoyer, tu: do not send les messages to your parents)
- deux ! (donner, tu: give me two of them)
- Ne pas ! (donner, tu: do not give me any)