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5.2.2 Sequence of several personal pronouns

We quite often have phrases, where both objects are substituted by personal pronouns. They then look like this:.

Example

I give it to ihm. You have not told it to her.

The direct (it) and the indirect objects (him / her) are right after one another. Now we have a clou in French: The personal pronouns of the indirect object (dative) me, te, se, nous, vous, se are put before the direct object (accusative). BUT, the personal pronouns of the indirect object lui, leur are put AFTER the direct object. We will discuss this later on again.

Indirect object before the direct object (me, te, se, nous, vous, se)
	Subject	Dative (indirect)	Accusative (direct)	Verb
	Je	te	le	dis.
	I	to you	it	tell.
	Je	te	la	donne.
	I	to you	her	give.
	Je	te	les	donne.
	I	to you	them	give.
	Je	me	le	donne.
	I	to me	it	give.
	Je	me	la	donne.
	I	to me	her	give.
	Je	me	les	donne.
	I	to me	them	give.
	Je	vous	le	donne.
	I	to you	it	give.
	Je	vous	la	donne.
	I	to you	her	give.
	Je	vous	les	donne.
	I	to you	them	give.

Indirect object AFTER direct object (lui, leur)
	Subject	Accusative (direct)	Dative (indirect)	Verb
	Je	le	lui	donne.
	I	it	to him	give.
	Je	la	lui	donne.
	I	it	to him	give.
	Je	les	lui	donne.
	I	it	to him	give.
	Je	le	leur	donne.
	I	it	to them	give.
	Je	la	leur	donne.
	I	her	to them	give.
	Je	les	leur	donne.
	I	them	to them	give.

We notice that with the substitution of the indirect object the preposition á can be omitted, as it is possible in English as well, when only the indirect object is substituted:

Example

I give the book to Peter. I give him the book. I give it to ihm.

It will ease the learning process, if you listen to the sentences a couple of times and best repeat them. Only to try to remember the rules will bring you to a point, where there are too many rules. Try to take it easy, there are worst things in live than to put the personal pronoun to the wrong position.


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