फ़्रेंच चीटशीट

Indirect object pronouns — lui and leur

for when the verb takes àA2

In one line

Wherever a verb connects to a person through à, that à + person becomes lui or leur — and gender plays no part.

The forms on this page

FormMeansSound
luito him · to her — the same for both/lɥi/
leurto them — and it never takes an s/lœʁ/

The table

EnglishPronounNotePronunciation
to meme
m'		same as the direct form/mə/ · /ɛm/
to youte
t'		same as the direct form/tə/ · /te/
to him · to herluione form for both genders/lɥi/
to usnoussame as the direct form/nu/
to you (plural)voussame as the direct form/vu/
to themleurno s — this leur is not the possessive/lœʁ/

Only two cells differ from the direct object pronouns: third person singular and plural. Everything else is identical — which is good news.

English has this category and hides it. "I gave her the book" and "I saw her" use the same word, so the difference never surfaces. The test that reveals it is whether you could say "to": "I gave the book to her" ✓ — indirect. "I saw to her" ✗ — direct. French makes you choose the pronoun accordingly: Je lui ai donné le livre versus Je l'ai vue.

Direct or indirect?

Je vois Marie. /ʒə vwa ma.ʁi/direct → Je la vois. /ʒə la vwa/
Je parle à Marie. /ʒə paʁl a ma.ʁi/indirect → Je lui parle. /ʒə lɥi paʁl/
J'appelle Marie. /ʒa.pɛl ma.ʁi/direct → Je l'appelle. /ʒə la.pɛl/
Je téléphone à Marie. /ʒə te.le.fɔ.n‿a ma.ʁi/indirect → Je lui téléphone. /ʒə lɥi te.le.fɔn/

Look at rows two and four. English uses no preposition in either — "I phone Marie", "I call Marie" — and French uses one in only one of them. So the English gives you nothing; the preposition must be learnt with the French verb.

The verbs where English has no "to" and French insists on à:

VerbEnglishFrench
téléphoner à /te.le.fo.ne a/to phone somebodyJe lui téléphone. /ʒə lɥi te.le.fɔn/
répondre à /ʁe.pɔ̃dʁ a/to answer somebodyJe lui réponds. /ʒə lɥi ʁe.pɔ̃/
obéir à /o.be.iʁ a/to obey somebodyJe lui obéis. /ʒə lɥi o.be.i/
ressembler à /ʁə.sɑ̃.ble a/to resemble somebodyJe lui ressemble. /ʒə lɥi ʁə.sɑ̃bl/
plaire à /plɛʁ a/to please somebodyÇa lui plaît. /sa lɥi plɛ/

And the reverse — English adds a preposition where French does not: you look at, wait for, listen to, pay for — all direct in French, so le/la, never lui. See pronoms-cod.

The verbs that take à

Most of them are verbs of giving and telling — something travels from someone to someone:

VerbPronunciationMeaning
parler à/paʁ.le a/to speak to
dire à/diʁ a/to say to
demander à/də.mɑ̃.de a/to ask
répondre à/ʁe.pɔ̃dʁ a/to answer
téléphoner à/te.le.fo.ne a/to phone
écrire à/e.kʁiʁ a/to write to
donner à/dɔ.ne a/to give to
offrir à/ɔ.fʁiʁ a/to give as a gift
envoyer à/ɑ̃.vwa.je a/to send to
montrer à/mɔ̃.tʁe a/to show to
expliquer à/ɛks.pli.ke a/to explain to
ressembler à/ʁə.sɑ̃.ble a/to look like
plaire à/plɛʁ a/to be pleasing to
obéir à/o.be.iʁ a/to obey
sourire à/su.ʁiʁ a/to smile at

An important exception — verbs that refuse lui

A few verbs take à but do not use lui; they use à + a stressed pronoun:

Verb❌✅
penser àJe lui pense.Je pense à lui.
s'intéresser à—Je m'intéresse à elle.
faire attention à—Je fais attention à lui.
tenir à—Je tiens à elle.

And if what follows à is not a person, the pronoun is y, not lui:

Je pense à mon travail. → J'y pense.

Examples

EnglishFrenchPronunciation
I'll phone him.Je lui téléphone./ʒə lɥi te.le.fɔn/
I told them.Je leur ai dit./ʒə lœ.ʁ‿e di/
He didn't answer me.Il ne m'a pas répondu./il nə ma pa ʁe.pɔ̃.dy/
I want to write to her.Je veux lui écrire./ʒə vø lɥi e.kʁiʁ/
Answer him!Réponds-lui !/ʁe.pɔ̃ lɥi/
I'll ask her.Je lui demande./ʒə lɥi də.mɑ̃d/
I'm thinking about him.Je pense à lui./ʒə pɑ̃s a lɥi/
She likes it.Ça lui plaît./sa lɥi plɛ/

Common mistakes

❌✅Why
Je leurs parle.Je leur parle.The pronoun leur never takes an s
Je lui vois.Je le vois.voir is direct
Je le téléphone.Je lui téléphone.téléphoner takes à
Je lui pense.Je pense à lui.penser à is an exception
Je lui ai parlée.Je lui ai parlé.No agreement with an indirect object

That last one is a key difference: the participle agrees only with a preceding direct object. lui and leur never trigger agreement.

Which leur is it?

two related words that are not the same
RoleTakes s?ExamplePronunciation
pronoun"to them"neverJe leur parle./ʒə lœʁ paʁl/
possessive"their"yes, with a plural nounleurs livres/lœʁ livʁ/

Telling them apart is easy: is a noun next, or a verb?

leur + verb = the pronoun, no s — Je leur donne leur + noun = the possessive, and it takes s with a plural — leurs enfants

संबंधित