How to track objects and pronouns in a French story

Edited by Chris Lee · Updated · About the library

Follow a borrowed scarf and a camera through a short French scene. Separate owner, holder and location, then resolve la, le and lui with a table and quiz.

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In short

Give each object a short label, then track who owns it, who has it and where it ends up. A loan changes the holder while the owner stays the same. Use the verb and surrounding sentences to resolve le, la and lui.

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A red scarf rests on a French café chair while an unbranded camera sits on the table beside two women.
L’écharpe and l’appareil photo each have an owner and a holder. Illustration: Atelier

Read: a scarf and a camera

Farah porte l’écharpe rouge de sa tante Nadia. Nadia la lui a prêtée pour la journée. Au café, Farah enlève l’écharpe et la pose sur une chaise. Nadia tient l’appareil photo d’Hugo. Elle le pose sur la table pour prendre son café. Hugo arrive et reprend son appareil. Avant de partir, Farah reprend l’écharpe. Elle la rend à Nadia devant le café.

Farah is wearing her aunt Nadia’s red scarf. Nadia lent it to her for the day. At the café, Farah takes the scarf off and puts it on a chair. Nadia is holding Hugo’s camera. She puts it on the table to have her coffee. Hugo arrives and takes his camera back. Before leaving, Farah picks up the scarf again. She returns it to Nadia outside the café.

Make one row per object

Follow the scene from beginning to end
ObjectOwnerMovementAt the end
l’écharpe rougeNadiaFarah → chair → Farah → NadiaNadia has it back.
l’appareil photoHugoNadia → table → HugoHugo has it back.

The scarf belongs to Nadia even while Farah wears it. The camera belongs to Hugo even while Nadia holds it. At the middle of the scene, both objects have been put down. The final verbs, reprend and rend, update the table again.

How do you track what a pronoun refers to in a French story?

Resolve the reference with the action
FrenchReferenceReason
Nadia la lui a prêtée.La = scarf; lui = Farah.Nadia lends the scarf to Farah.
Elle le pose sur la table.Elle = Nadia; le = camera.Nadia is holding the camera just before this.
Elle la rend à Nadia.Elle = Farah; la = scarf.Farah returns the borrowed scarf.

Gender helps: l’écharpe is feminine, so the object pronoun is la; l’appareil is masculine, so it is le. Two feminine objects could both fit la. In that case, look at the action and the preceding sentence. Lui can mean “to him” or “to her”; here the loan is to Farah.

Farah rend l’écharpe à Nadia.

Farah returns the scarf to Nadia.

Repeating the nouns makes a useful summary. Compare la lui a prêtée: prêtée agrees with the feminine scarf represented by the preceding direct object la.

Before answering a question about an object

A self-review aid, not a grade. Ticks are not saved.

Question 1No account needed
Who owns the scarf while it is on the chair?

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

Nadia. Nadia lent the scarf to Farah. Putting it on a chair changes its location, while Nadia remains its owner.

Question 2No account needed
What does le refer to here?Elle le pose sur la table pour prendre son café.

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

The camera.. Nadia is holding Hugo’s camera in the preceding sentence. The masculine direct object pronoun refers back to the camera.

Question 3No account needed
Who has the two objects at the end?

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

Nadia has the scarf; Hugo has the camera.. Hugo takes back his camera, and Farah returns the scarf to Nadia in the final sentence.

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