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French - Demonstrative Pronouns, To Read, To Say / Tell, To Laugh, Disjunctive Pronouns, Y and En, To Write, to See, to Believe |
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Demonstrative Pronouns
Demonstrative pronouns translate to the one(s), or that/those when replacing a noun. There are four forms, but they are not often used alone. De, qui, que, dont and -ci or -là usually follow them
|
Masc. |
Fem. |
| Singular |
celui |
celle |
| Plural |
ceux |
celles |
Donnez-moi mon billet et celui de Guillaume. Give me my ticket and William's. (or: the one of William)
Il porte ses propres livres et ceux de sa sour. He is carrying his own books and his sister's. (or: those of his sister)
Quelles fleurs aimes-tu, celles-ci ou celles-là? Which flowers do you like, these (ones) or those (ones)?
Ceux qui travaillent dur réussissent. Those who work hard succeed.
C'est celui dont je parle. That's the one I'm talking about.
To Read, To Say / Tell, To Laugh
| lire-to read (leer) |
|
dire-to say/tell (deer) |
|
rire-to laugh (reer) |
| lis (lee) |
lisons (lee-zohn) |
|
dis (dee) |
disons (dee-zohn) |
|
ris (ree) |
rions (ree-ohn) |
| lis |
lisez (lee-zay) |
|
dis |
dites (deet) |
|
ris |
riez (ree-ay) |
| lit |
lisent (leez) |
|
dit |
disent (deess) |
|
rit |
rient (ree) |
Disjunctive Pronouns
1. As mentioned above, disjunctives are mostly used after prepositions and can only replace people, not things. However, if the preposition is à, there are two possible rules:
à + person = indirect pronoun
à + person + à = disjunctive pronoun, in these cases:
| se fier à |
to trust |
| s'habituer à |
to get used to |
| s'intéresser à |
to be interested in |
| penser à |
to think about |
| rêver à |
to dream about |
2. They can also be used alone, to emphasize a subject, with être à (to belong to) or in compound subjects.
Moi, j'ai faim. Me, I am hungry.
Ses amis et lui, ils aiment manger. His friends and he, they like to eat.
Ce livre est à moi! That book is mine!
3. They can be added to -même to mean -self.
elle-même = herself
4. They are also used with ne...que.
C'est n'est que lui. It's only him.
Y and En
Y and en are both pronouns that go before the verb. Y (ee) means it or there. En (awn) means some or some (of them), or of it. They replace prepositional phrases. In French, the phrases will begin with à (or any contraction of it), en, sur, sous, chez, or dans for y; and de (or any contraction of it) or a number for en. They cannot replace people unless the person is introduced with an indefinite article, partitive, number or quantity. Remember that they go before the verb, except in a command, in which they follow the verb and are connected with a hyphen. The -er verbs also add the -s they lost when forming the you (familiar) command.
Sample Sentences
| Do you want some apples? |
Voulez-vous des pommes? |
| Do you want some? |
En voulez-vous? |
| I have three sisters. |
J'ai trois sours. |
| I have three (of them). |
J'en ai trois. |
| It is in the drawer |
Il est dans le tiroir. |
| It is there. |
Il y est. |
| I am going to Detroit. |
Je vais à Détroit. |
| I am going there. |
J'y vais. |
| I am going to go to Atlanta. |
Je vais aller à Atlanta. |
| I am going to go there. |
Je vais y aller. |
| Answer the telephone! |
Répondez au téléphone! |
| Answer it! (formal) |
Répondez-y! |
| Stay there! (familiar) |
Restes-y! |
| Don't stay there! (familiar) |
N'y reste pas. |
Note: Notice y and en don't go after the verb in negative commands. Treat them like pronouns. Ne or Je plus y or en all contract to N'y (nee), J'y (zhee), N'en (nawn), and J'en (zhawn). When you have a conjugated verb plus an infinitive (vais and aller), the y or en go in between the two verbs.
To Write, to See, to Believe
Verbs take a direct object if they do not need a prepostition to connect it to the noun. Verbs that take indirect objects use prepositions after the verb. Voir-to see (vwahr) and croire-to believe (krwahr) take a direct and écrire-to write (ay-kreer) takes an indirect.
| voir-to see |
|
croire-to believe |
|
écrire-to write |
| vois (vwah) |
voyons (vwah-yohn) |
|
crois (krwah) |
croyons (krwah-yohn) |
|
écris (ay-kree) |
écrivons (ay-kree-vohn) |
| vois |
voyez (vwah-yay) |
|
crois |
croyez (krwah-yay) |
|
écris |
écrivez (ay-kree-vay) |
| voit |
voient (vwah) |
|
croit |
croient (krwah) |
|
écrit |
écrivent (ay-kreev) |
You can usually tell by using the verbs in English. We say "I see her" or "She believes him" or "He writes to them." In French, it would be "Je la vois" (direct), "Elle le croit" (direct) and "Il leur écrit." (indirect) But don't always count on English to help you out. Téléphoner (à) and Obéir (à) both take indirect objects in French but you can't tell that in English. In this case, you can tell by the à that follows the infinitive.
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