Subject, Object and Relative Pronouns

A subject pronoun tells you who is doing the action. It replaces a noun and decides the verb ending. French has nine, and they map onto the conjugation grid you already use:

Pronoun	Meaning	Example
je	I	Je parle. (I speak.)
tu	you (informal)	Tu parles. (You speak.)
il	he / it	Il parle. (He speaks.)
elle	she / it	Elle parle. (She speaks.)
on	we / one	On parle. (We speak. / One speaks.)
nous	we	Nous parlons. (We speak.)
vous	you (formal/pl)	Vous parlez. (You speak.)
ils	they (m/mixed)	Ils parlent. (They speak.)
elles	they (f)	Elles parlent. (They speak.)

on is very common in speech and means "we": On va au cinéma = We're going to the cinema. It always takes the il/elle verb form (on va, not on allons). Use vous for one person politely or for more than one person.

A direct object is the person or thing that receives the action directly, with no preposition. To avoid repeating the noun, replace it with a direct object pronoun placed before the verb:

Pronoun	Replaces	Example
me (m')	me	Il me voit. (He sees me.)
te (t')	you	Je te connais. (I know you.)
le (l')	him / it (m)	Je le vois. (I see him/it.)
la (l')	her / it (f)	Je la vois. (I see her/it.)
nous	us	Elle nous aide. (She helps us.)
vous	you	Je vous invite. (I invite you.)
les	them	Je les achète. (I buy them.)

Note the word order: the pronoun comes in front of the verb, the opposite of English. Je le mange = I eat it. Before a vowel, me/te/le/la shorten to m'/t'/l': Je **l'**aime (I love him/her/it).

An indirect object is a person reached through the preposition à (to). "I speak to my friend" → the friend is indirect. The indirect object pronouns are the same as the direct ones except in the third person:

Pronoun	Meaning	Example
me (m')	to me	Il me parle. (He speaks to me.)
te (t')	to you	Je te téléphone. (I phone you.)
lui	to him / her	Je lui parle. (I speak to him/her.)
nous	to us	Elle nous écrit. (She writes to us.)
vous	to you	Je vous réponds. (I answer you.)
leur	to them	Je leur donne le livre. (I give them the book.)

The key difference is the third person: lui = to him or to her (no gender distinction), and leur = to them. Like direct pronouns, they sit before the verb: Je lui parle, never Je parle lui.

Because object pronouns go before the verb, in the perfect tense they go before the auxiliary (avoir / être):

Sentence	English translation
Je l'ai vu.	I saw him/it.
Il nous a aidés.	He helped us.
Je lui ai parlé.	I spoke to him/her.

(Higher tier) With a preceding direct object, the past participle agrees with it: Les fleurs? Je les ai achetées (The flowers? I bought them). This agreement does not happen with indirect objects.

Keep the pronoun tight against the auxiliary, and remember le / la contract to l' before the vowel of ai / as / a / avons / avez / ont.

Emphatic pronouns are the "strong" forms, used when the pronoun stands on its own — especially after a preposition or for emphasis:

Emphatic	Goes with	Example
moi	je	avec moi (with me)
toi	tu	chez toi (at your place)
lui	il	pour lui (for him)
elle	elle	sans elle (without her)
nous	nous	devant nous (in front of us)
vous	vous	après vous (after you)
eux	ils	pour eux (for them, m)
elles	elles	chez elles (at their place, f)

They are also used for emphasis at the start of a sentence and after c'est:

• Moi, je préfère le thé. — Me, I prefer tea.
• C'est lui qui a gagné. — He is the one who won.
• Tu viens avec nous? — Are you coming with us?

(Higher tier) At Foundation you only need qui as a subject relative pronoun. The object relative que (and où) are Higher tier, so Foundation students can treat que below as extension.

Relative pronouns join two ideas into one sentence, linking back to a noun. The choice between qui and que depends on their job in the clause:

Pronoun	Role in the clause	Test	Example
qui	subject (who/which does the action)	directly followed by a verb	la fille qui parle (the girl who is speaking)
que	object (whom/which receives the action)	followed by a subject + verb	le livre que je lis (the book that I am reading)

More examples:

• Voici l'homme qui habite à côté. — Here is the man who lives next door. (qui + verb habite)
• Le film que nous avons vu était bon. — The film that we saw was good. (que + nous avons vu)

qui never shortens; que becomes qu' before a vowel: le garçon **qu'**elle aime (the boy she loves).

(Higher tier) Higher students also meet où as a relative pronoun for place and time (la ville où j'habite = the town where I live), plus the preverbal pronouns y (there) and en (some / of it), which are covered in the advanced-pronouns lesson.

1. Putting object pronouns after the verb

French places object pronouns before the verb: Je le vois (I see it), not Je vois le. This is the opposite of English word order.

2. Confusing direct le/la/les with indirect lui/leur

Use le/la/les when there is no preposition (Je la connais = I know her) and lui/leur when the verb takes à (Je lui téléphone = I phone him/her).

3. Using je or tu after a preposition

After a preposition you need an emphatic pronoun: avec moi (with me), pour toi (for you), never avec je or pour tu.

4. Choosing qui or que by meaning alone

Decide by grammar, not translation: qui is followed directly by a verb, que is followed by a subject and verb. Both can mean "that".

5. Forgetting on takes the il form

on always uses the third-person singular ending: On va (We go), not On allons.