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Verb drill

French double-pronoun drill: me le, le lui, les y and lui en

Edited by Chris Lee · Updated · About the library

Put two French object pronouns in order with twelve sentence gaps. Practise recipients, places and quantities, then keep both pronouns with their verb.

In short

Before the verb, use me / te / se / nous / vous → le / la / les → lui / leur → y → en. This gives Il me le dit, Je le lui dis and Je lui en donne deux. Keep both pronouns together before the verb they belong to.

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A person offering exactly two apples to a friend across a French kitchen table, natural simple hands.
Je lui en donne deux keeps both recipient and quantity. Illustration: Atelier

Study first: what each pronoun replaces

Three pairs, three meanings
Full sentenceShorter sentenceTwo roles
Elle me donne le code.Elle me le donne.me = recipient; le = code
Je donne le code à Nora.Je le lui donne.le = code; lui = Nora
Je donne deux conseils à Nora.Je lui en donne deux.lui = Nora; en = advice

The order changes when the recipient changes from me to lui: me le, but le lui. Lui can mean “to him” or “to her”. Leur is for several recipients: Je les leur donne. A number stays after the verb when en replaces what you are counting.

In what order do French double pronouns go?

Read left to right
PairExampleMeaning
me leTu me le dis.You tell it to me.
le luiTu le lui dis.You tell it to him or her.
les yTu les y accompagnes.You accompany them there.
t’enJe t’en parle.I talk to you about it.
lui enJe lui en donne deux.I give him or her two.

In Je t’en parle, te becomes t’ before en. The table gives an order for compatible complements. The French verb still decides which complements work: parler de quelque chose à quelqu’un supports t’en parler; penser à Nora becomes penser à elle.

One verb, one pronoun group

Je ne le lui dis pas. Je ne vais pas le lui dire.

I’m not telling it to her. I’m not going to tell it to her.

With a simple verb, the group goes before that verb. In the past, it goes before the auxiliary: Je le lui ai dit. With a modal or near future, it goes before its infinitive: Je peux le lui dire.

Dis-le-moi ! Ne me le dis pas !

Tell me! Don’t tell me!

An affirmative command has its own order and hyphens. The negative returns to the ordinary order.

Fill each gap with the missing pronoun or pronoun pair. Read the full reference in the hint first. Keep the printed quantity and the recipient exactly as given.

1 · Choose the pair

  1. Tu donnes. (le code à moi)
  2. Je donne. (le code à Nora)
  3. Elle montre. (la réponse à vous)
  4. Nous expliquons. (les règles aux collègues)

2 · Places, de complements and quantities

  1. Elle accompagne. (les visiteurs à l’entrée)
  2. Je parle demain. (de ce problème à toi)
  3. Nous donnons deux. (deux conseils à Nora)
  4. Il propose plusieurs. (plusieurs solutions à vous)

3 · Keep the pair with its verb

  1. Je ne dis pas. (le résultat à Nora)
  2. Nous allons expliquer. (les règles aux collègues)
  3. Elle a dit. (le résultat à vous)
  4. Tu peux parler. (de ce problème à moi)

Keep going