how do you know when to use a direct or an indirect object pronoun?

Direct object pronouns: me, te, le, la, nous, vous, les me, you, him, her, us, you (pl), themIndirect object pronouns: me, te, lui, nous, vous, leur to me, to you, to him/her, to us, to you (pl), to themObject pronouns replace the noun in a sentencee.g. I see the book= je vois le livreWe must replace the noun le livre. As it is masculine we use the masculine object pronoun "le".Therefore: I see it (the book)= je le voisThis is replaced by a direct object as there is no preposition before the nounAn example of an indirect object is:I am calling John with my mobile= Je téléphone à Jean avec mon mobileBefore our object in this case we have the preposition à so we must use an indirect object pronoun, in this case lui.I am calling him with my mobile= Je lui téléphone avec mon mobileIndirect objects can be thought of as though you have to take a stop in the sentence before you arrive at the subject whereas with direct objects you arrive straight there without stopping in between subject and object.

Answered by Lauren S. French tutor

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