[Originally posted on 03/20/14 on the Duolingo French for English speakers forum by Remy]
“Personal pronouns” are words that replace nouns (“pronouns”), and that agree with the grammatical person they replace (“personal”).
There are 5 different kinds of personal pronouns in French:
1) Subject:
- “Je”: 1st pers. sing. (ex: “Je mange.” means “I eat.”)
- “Tu”: 2nd pers. sing. (ex: “Tu manges.” means “You eat.”)
- “Il”: 3rd pers. sing. masc. (ex: “Il mange.” means “He eats.”)
- “Elle”: 3rd pers. sing. fem. (ex: “Elle mange.” means “She eats.”)
- “On”: 3rd pers. sing. neutral. (ex: “On mange.” means “One eats.”)
- “Nous”: 1st pers. plur. (ex: “Nous mangeons.” means “We eat.”)
- “Vous”: 2nd pers. plur. (ex: “Vous mangez.” means “You eat.”), or 2nd pers. sing. formal
- “Ils”: 3rd pers. plur. masc. (ex: “Ils mangent.” means “They eat.”)
- “Elles”: 3rd pers. plur. fem. (ex: “Elles mangent.” means “They eat.”)
2) Stressed:
- “Moi”: 1st pers. sing. (ex: “Le chien est avec moi.” means “The dog is with me.”)
- “Toi”: 2nd pers. sing. (ex: “Le chien est avec toi.” means “The dog is with you.”)
- “Lui”: 3rd pers. sing. masc. (ex: “Le chien est avec lui.” means “The dog is with him.”)
- “Elle”: 3rd pers. sing. fem. (ex: “Le chien est avec elle.” means “The dog is with her.”)
- “Soi”: 3rd pers. sing. neutral. (ex: “Chacun a un chien à soi.” means “Each one has his own dog.”)
- “Nous”: 1st pers. plur. (ex: “Le chien est avec nous.” means “The dog is with us.”)
- “Vous”: 2nd pers. plur. (ex: “Le chien est avec vous.” means “The dog is with you.”)
- “Eux”: 3rd pers. plur. masc. (ex: “Le chien est avec eux.” means “The dog is with them.”)
- “Elles”: 3rd pers. plur. fem. (ex: “Le chien est avec elles.” means “The dog is with them.”)
3) Reflexive:
- “me”: 1st pers. sing. (ex: “Je me couche.” means “I go to bed.”)
- “te”: 2nd pers. sing. (ex: “Tu te couches.” means “You go to bed.”)
- “se”: 3rd pers. sing. masc. and fem (ex: “Il/Elle se couche.” means “He/She goes to bed.”)
- “nous”: 1st pers. plur. (ex: “Nous nous couchons.” means “We go to bed.”)
- “vous”: 2nd pers. plur. (ex: “Vous vous couchez.” means “You go to bed.”), or 2nd pers. sing. formal
- “se”: 3rd pers. plur. masc. (ex: “Ils/Elles se couchent.” means “They go to bed.”)
Note: here, the French verb is “se coucher” (to go to bed), which is called a “reflexive verb” as it is preceded by a reflexive pronoun. (“coucher” without the pronoun means “to put to bed/to lay down”).
4) Direct object:
- “me” or “m’ ” (before vowel or mute “h”): 1st pers. sing. (ex: “L’enfant me voit.” means “The child sees me.”)
- “te” or “t’ ” (before vowel or mute “h”): 2nd pers. sing. (ex: “L’enfant t’a vu.” means “The child saw you.”)
- “le” or “l’ ” (before vowel or mutre “h”): 3rd pers. sing. masc. (ex: “L’enfant le voit.” means “The child sees him/it.”)
- “la”: 3rd pers. sing. fem (ex: “L’enfant la voit.” means “The child sees her/it.”)
- “nous”: 1st pers. plur. (ex: “L’enfant nous voit.” means “The child sees us.”)
- “vous”: 2nd pers. plur. (ex: “L’enfant vous voit.” means “The child sees you.”), or 2nd pers. sing. formal
- “les”: 3rd pers. plur. masc. (ex: “Les cadeaux, ils/elles les donnent aux enfants.” means “The presents, they give them to the children.”)
5) Indirect object:
- “me”: 1st pers. sing. (ex: “L’enfant me parle.” means “The child talks to me.”)
- “te”: 2nd pers. sing. (ex: “L’enfant te parle.” means “The child talks to you.”)
- “lui”: 3rd pers. sing. masc. and fem. (ex: “L’enfant lui parle.” means “The child talks to him/her.”)
- “nous”: 1st pers. plur. (ex: “L’enfant nous parle.” means “The child talks to us.”)
- “vous”: 2nd pers. plur. (ex: “L’enfant vous parle.” means “The child talks to you.”), or 2nd pers. sing. formal
- “leur”: 3rd pers. plur. masc. and fem. (ex: “L’enfant leur parle.” means “The child talks to them.”)
Note: here, the French verb is “parler à” (to talk to), which is “intrasitive” as it is followed by the preposition “à”. (“parler” without the preposition means “to talk”).
Selected comments on original post
Wonderful! I would like to encourage you to point out the difference between “leur” and “leurs” since it is very difficult differentiate for most foreign speakers.
Remy [contributor]
Thanks!
“leur” can have 3 different meanings in French:
1) Personal pronoun (see explanation above).
- ex: “L’enfant leur parle.” means “The child talks to them.”
2) Determiner (more precisely: Possessive adjective)
- ex: “C’est leur chien.” means “It is their dog.”
3) “leur” can also be part of a possessive pronoun: “le leur” (masc. sing.), “la leur” (fem. sing.), “les leurs” (‘masc. and fem. plur.)
- ex: “Ce chien est le chien de mes voisins. C’est le leur.” means “This dog is my neighbors’. It is theirs.”
- ex: “Cette tortue est la tortue de mes voisins. C’est la leur.” means “This turtle is my neighbors’. It is theirs.”
- ex: “Ces chiens sont les chiens de mes voisins. Ce sont les leurs.” means “These dogs are my neighbors’. They are theirs.”
Great! I’ve added this conversation to our compendium list here [EDIT: link was not archived on Duolinguists, but individual articles were]. Merci Rémy !
Duolinguists 