Lesson 16: Indirect object pronouns — me, te, lui, nous, vous, leur

Part 1: What "indirect object" actually means

In English, the indirect object is the recipient — the person you give to, talk to, write to. You can say it two ways:

• "I give him a book." (no preposition)
• "I give a book to him." (with to)

English lets you drop the to. French does not. Every recipient needs the preposition à — or an indirect pronoun that already contains the to.

• Je donne un livre à Marc. — I give Marc a book. / I give a book to Marc.
• Je lui donne un livre. — I give him a book. / I give a book to him.

The single rule of this lesson: The structure à + person → replaced by an indirect object pronoun (lui / leur / me / te / nous / vous) placed before the verb.

Recipient	Replacement
à Marie	lui (to her)
à Pierre	lui (to him)
à mes parents	leur (to them)

The big shock for English speakers: lui is the same for "to him" and "to her" — French drops the gender distinction in the indirect pronoun. English keeps it (him vs her); French doesn't. leur is "to them" for any group.

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Part 2: The six forms — full table

Person	Indirect	Meaning	Compare: direct (L15)
1 sg	me (m')	to me	me (m') — me
2 sg	te (t')	to you	te (t') — you
3 sg m/f	lui	to him / to her	le / la — him / her
1 pl	nous	to us	nous — us
2 pl	vous	to you (pl./formal)	vous — you
3 pl	leur	to them	les — them

Memorize the trap:

• Singular 3rd person: lui (indirect) ≠ le/la (direct)
• Plural 3rd person: leur (indirect) ≠ les (direct)
• The other four (me, te, nous, vous) — same shape as direct. Only the verb tells you which is which.

Élision: me, te drop the e before a vowel → m', t'. But lui and leur never contract — they end in vowels but stay whole.

• Il m'a parlé. — He spoke to me.
• Il lui a parlé. — He spoke to him/her. (NOT "l'a parlé" — that would be direct, and parler doesn't take a direct person)

Watch the spelling of leur: no -s. Don't confuse it with possessive leurs ("their" + plural noun): leurs amis (their friends) vs Je leur parle (I'm talking to them). Same word, but the pronoun never takes -s.

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Part 3: Where the pronoun sits

Right before the conjugated verb — always. In statements, in questions, in negations, in any tense.

Construction	Example
Statement	Je lui parle. — I'm talking to him.
Negation	Je ne lui parle pas. — I'm not talking to him.
Question (inversion)	Lui parles-tu ? — Are you talking to him?
Question (est-ce que)	Est-ce que tu lui parles ?
Futur proche	Je vais lui parler. — I'm going to talk to him. (before the infinitive!)
Modal verb	Je dois lui parler. — I have to talk to him.
Passé composé	Je lui ai parlé. — I talked to him. (before the auxiliary!)

Trap: in aller + infinitif and pouvoir/devoir/vouloir + infinitif, the pronoun glues to the infinitive it belongs to. Not "Je lui vais parler", but Je vais lui parler. English puts "to him" at the end ("I'm going to talk to him"); French puts the pronoun right in the middle.

Past-participle agreement note: unlike direct objects (L15), preceding indirect objects do not trigger past-participle agreement. Je lui ai parlé (no -e even if "lui" = her). You'll meet this rule properly in L24 — for now, just don't add an -e for indirect.

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Part 4: The verbs that take à — where French splits from English

This is the killer for English speakers. In many cases French uses à + person where English uses a plain direct object. The English verb "feels" transitive ("I called him", "I answered him") — but the French verb requires à, which means indirect pronoun: lui, not le.

French verb	English	The trap
téléphoner à qqn	to call (phone) someone	Je lui téléphone. — I call him. NOT "Je le téléphone."
répondre à qqn	to answer someone	Je lui réponds. — I answer her. NOT "Je la réponds."
parler à qqn	to talk to / speak to someone	Je lui parle. — I talk to him.
demander à qqn	to ask someone	Demande-lui ! — Ask him! NOT "Demande-le."
obéir à qqn	to obey someone	Les enfants lui obéissent. — The kids obey her. NOT "l'obéissent."
plaire à qqn	to please someone	Ce film lui plaît. — He/she likes this film. (mirror!)
ressembler à qqn	to resemble someone	Tu lui ressembles. — You look like him. NOT "Tu le ressembles."
conseiller à qqn	to advise someone	Je lui conseille ce livre. — I recommend this book to him.
mentir à qqn	to lie to someone	Ne me mens pas ! — Don't lie to me!
manquer à qqn	to be missed by someone	Tu lui manques. — He/she misses you. (mirror!)
sourire à qqn	to smile at someone	Elle lui sourit. — She smiles at him.

English-speaker rule of thumb: if the French dictionary entry shows verb + à + qqn, the person-pronoun is lui / leur, never le/la/les. Don't trust the English translation — trust the French preposition.

The mirror verbs — plaire and manquer

These two flip subject and object compared to English.

• Ce film me plaît = literally "this film pleases me" = I like this film.
• Tu me manques = literally "you are missed to me" = I miss you.

So Marie me manque doesn't mean "Marie misses me" — it means "I miss Marie." The person doing the missing is the indirect pronoun.

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Part 5: English-French verb-preposition mismatch — the full picture

The trap goes both ways. Some French verbs take à where English uses a direct object (Section 4). The opposite also happens: some French verbs take a direct object where English uses a preposition. You met those in Lesson 15 — recap here so the contrast is sharp.

Concept	English	French — direct or indirect?
to listen to him	listen + preposition to	écouter qqn → direct: Je l'écoute.
to wait for him	wait + preposition for	attendre qqn → direct: Je l'attends.
to look at him	look + preposition at	regarder qqn → direct: Je le regarde.
to look for him	look + preposition for	chercher qqn → direct: Je le cherche.
to pay for it	pay + preposition for	payer qqch → direct: Je le paie.
to call him	call — no preposition	téléphoner à qqn → indirect: Je lui téléphone.
to answer him	answer — no preposition	répondre à qqn → indirect: Je lui réponds.
to obey him	obey — no preposition	obéir à qqn → indirect: Je lui obéis.
to resemble him	resemble — no preposition	ressembler à qqn → indirect: Tu lui ressembles.

The big idea: stop translating the English preposition. Forget whether English uses "to / for / at / at" before the person. Look only at what the French verb wants: a bare object → direct pronoun (le/la/les), or à → indirect pronoun (lui/leur).

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Part 6: The "to whom?" question

When you don't know whether a verb is direct or indirect, ask in French:

• Qui ? ("whom?") — direct object → le / la / les
• À qui ? ("to whom?") — indirect object → lui / leur

Sentence	Question test	Pronoun
Je vois Marc.	Je vois qui ?	direct → Je le vois.
Je parle à Marc.	Je parle à qui ?	indirect → Je lui parle.
J'écoute le prof.	J'écoute qui ?	direct → Je l'écoute.
Je réponds au prof.	Je réponds à qui ?	indirect → Je lui réponds.
J'invite mes amis.	J'invite qui ?	direct → Je les invite.
J'écris à mes amis.	J'écris à qui ?	indirect → Je leur écris.

This test is bulletproof. Whenever you hesitate, ask "qui ?" vs "à qui ?" in French — the presence or absence of à answers everything.

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Part 7: When à does NOT give you lui/leur — the exceptions

Two situations where à appears but you do not use lui/leur:

(a) à + place → use y (Lesson 17, preview)

If à introduces a location, not a person, the pronoun is y, not lui.

• Je vais à Paris. → J'y vais. (I'm going there.) — NOT Je lui vais.
• Il est au bureau. → Il y est.

(b) A small list of verbs that keep à + stressed pronoun

A handful of verbs that take à + person refuse to take lui/leur. Instead, the person stays after the verb as a stressed pronoun (moi, toi, lui, elle, nous, vous, eux, elles):

• penser à qqn — to think about someone: Je pense à Marie. → Je pense à elle. (NOT Je lui pense.)
• s'intéresser à qqn — to be interested in: Il s'intéresse à toi.
• tenir à qqn — to care about: Je tiens à eux.
• faire attention à qqn — to watch out for: Fais attention à lui !
• songer à, rêver à — to think about / dream of.

A short list — learn it as a closed set of exceptions. Everything else with à + person takes lui/leur.

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