Please have a look at new video about Pronouns: VIDEO
1-FOR THINGS:
Instead of saying "I send an email" in English you can also say "I send it", "it" is for "email". "email" is a noun so "it" is a pro-noun (pro means "for" or "instead of", so instead of "email" you can use "it").
In French, it is the same thing: let's start with "I receive an email"
- Je reçois un email or Je le reçois,
Email is masculine so we use the word "le" always before the verb. With a feminine word we use "la":
- I receive a letter: je reçois une lettre or je la reçois.
So only two pronouns for things: le and la,
Before a verb starting with a vowel
"le" and "la" becomes L' :
I send an email: J'envoie un email or Je l'envoie, "le" becomes L' because of the first letter of "envoie".
Of course you can conjugate the verb:
Je l'envoie, tu l'envoies, il l'envoie, nous l'envoyons...
Je la reçois, tu la reçois...
This part is for things, see below for people.
2- FOR PEOPLE:
Instead of saying "I send a letter to Peter" you can also say "I send him a letter" or "I send a letter to him", "him" instead of "Peter" is also a pronoun, in English these pronouns for people are:
Me, you, him, her, us, Them.
In French unfortunately it is a bit more complicated for "him" and "her": you have to make a difference between "direct", "indirect" and "reflexive" object.
Let's see these 3 forms:
1- Direct:
"You see her", you do not say "you see To her" or anything like that, so we say that "her" is the "Direct object", in French it is the same: "tu la vois" (you see her), tu le vois (you see him). In this case the rule for the direct object and for things are the same.
2- Indirect:
"You speak to her", you do not say "you speak her", here you need the word "to", so we say that "her" is the "Indirect obect"
, in French it is the same: "tu lui parles" (you speak to her), because we say "tu parles à Peter". "Lui" is for both male and female. "Je parle à Sophie" or "Je lui parle"
3- Reflexive:
"He talks to himself", oneself is the english reflexive form, in French we say: "Il se parle" or even sometimes to emphasise
"Il se parle à lui-même"; "She talks to herself" = "elle se parle".
The other forms me, you, us are the same in French:
| Direct | Indirect | Reflexive |
| me | me | me |
| te | te | te |
| le, la | lui | se |
| nous | nous | nous |
| vous | vous | vous |
| les | leur | se |
example:
Direct: il me voit (he sees me), il te voit (he sees you) nous la voyons (we see her), vous les voyez (you see them)...
Indirect: Il me parle (he talks to me), elle nous parle (she talks to us), vous lui parlez (you speak to her or to him), je leur parle (I talk to them)
Reflexive: je me parle (I talk to myself), tu te parles, elle se parle, nous nous parlons, vous vous parlez, ils se parlent.
Don't forget that before a vowel we say: m', t',l', and s':
Il m'envoie (he sends to me), Il t'envoie (he sends to you), je l'appelle (I call him or her), Il s'envoie un email (he sends an email to himself).
For Things and People:
And what about "I send an email to Peter"? here you can see a direct complement and an indirect one, catch it? "an email" is the direct one and "Peter" the indirect and of course you can use pronouns instead:
"I send it to him". It is the same in French:
"J'envoie un email à Pierre" = "Je le lui envoie" (the direct pronoun always before the indirect one),
"J'envoie une fleur à Sophie" = "Je la lui envoie"