Lesson 8
Position of Pronouns in the AFFIRMATIVE IMPERATIVE TENSE

---

NOTE that there are no changes for the NEGATIVE IMPERATIVE TENSE as illustrated by the following examples:

-Tu veux encore du café? -Non, ne m'en donne plus. J'en ai déjà pris assez.

As you can see, the general rule applies here which means that both pronouns are placed before the verb and that the indirect pronoun complement ME precedes the EN pronoun

Here is the order that should be followed for the pronouns used in the AFFIRMATIVE IMPERATIVE.

Verb

before

Direct Object

before

Indirect Object

before

Y

before

EN

NOTE that:

1. Pronouns follow the verb and are joined to it by hyphens.
2. The pronouns me and te change to moi and toi in final position.

Let's start with a sentence containing only one pronoun:

1. What's the verb ? arrose.
2. Ask the question : Arrose QUOI? 'les plantes' (this is a direct complement).
3. Review your choices of DIRECT COMPLEMENTS in the table below.
4. Find the number and gender of 'les plantes' - Plural Feminine.
5. Choose LES and drag it over 'les plantes'.
6. Now, let's look at the answer. Drag LES to the set of dots in the answer.
7. As you know, LES has to remain after the verb because it is the AFFIRMATIVE IMPERATIVE.

Let's look at the following sentence that contains more than one complement, and let's try to complete the answer:

1. What's the verb? je lise
2. Ask the question: je lise QUOI? 'la lettre de Louisette' (this is a direct complement).
3. Review you choices of DIRECT COMPLEMENTS in the table below.
4. Find the number and gender of the 'la lettre' – Singular Feminine.
5. Choose LA and drag it over 'la lettre de Louisette'.
6. Now, let's look at the answer. Drag LA into the answer after "Lis ...".
7. As you know, LA has to remain after the verb because we have an AFFIRMATIVE IMPERATIVE.

Let's turn to the second complement: TE.

1. What's the verb? je lise.
2. Ask the question: Tu veux que je lise la lettre À QUI? TE (À TOI) (this is an indirect complement).
3. In the answer I will say: Lis la lettre À MOI. This has to be replaced by ME.
4. In the AFFIRMATIVE IMPERATIVE, the pronoun ME is changed to MOI.
5. Drag MOI over TE in the question.
6. Now, let's look at the answer. Drag MOI into the answer.
7. Let's check the TABLE to see if the order is right.
8. Yes, the direct object LA appears first and is followed by the indirect object MOI, so we don't have to do anything else.
9. Read the two sentences now to see if they make sense.

Let's look at another example:

Let's find the kind of pronouns we have here. Let's deal with des romans de Victor Hugo first.

1. What's the verb? j'apporte.
2. Ask the question: j'apporte QUOI? 'des romans de Victor Hugo' (this is a direct complement, but we have a partitive article: DES).
3. As you know the partitive article DES has to be replaced by the pronoun EN.
4. Let's drag the pronoun EN over 'des romans de Victor Hugo' in the sentence.
5. Now, let's look at the answer: Oui, apporte... and let's drag the EN after APPORTE.
6. As you know, EN has to remain after the verb because we have an AFFIRMATIVE IMPERATIVE.

Let's turn to the second complement: VOUS

1. What's the verb? j'apporte.
2. Ask the question: Vous voulez que j'apporte des romans À QUI? VOUS (À VOUS) (this is an indirect complement).
3. In the answer, will I say: APPORTE des romans À VOUS? This has to be replaced by NOUS.
4. Drag NOUS over to the answer.
5. Let's check the table to see if the order is right.
6. No, the indirect object NOUS should appear first and should be followed by EN, so we have to click on the reset button and redo it.
7. Let's read the two sentences now to see if they make sense.

Now you're ready to do some exercises
(close this window to go back to the main page)

hide