AQA A-Level French (7652)

## Learning Outcomes

- Distinguish between **direct** and **indirect object pronouns** in French
- Place pronouns correctly before a finite verb, before an infinitive, and with the imperative
- Use **qui**, **que**, **dont**, **ce qui**, **ce que** and **ce dont** accurately in essay sentences
- Understand the main uses of **y** and **en**
- Avoid common agreement mistakes with a preceding **COD**
- Apply pronouns to more fluent, less repetitive Paper 2 writing

## AQA A-Level French (7652) Syllabus

For the AQA A-Level French (7652), you are expected to understand pronouns as part of the required grammar for accurate and varied written French, with a focus on the following syllabus points:

- Know the difference between **subject pronouns**, **direct object pronouns** and **indirect object pronouns**
- Identify the normal **order and position** of pronouns before a conjugated verb
- Understand that object pronouns usually go **before the infinitive** they belong to
- Explain the different order used in the **affirmative imperative** and the return to normal order in the **negative imperative**
- Use key relative pronouns accurately, including **qui**, **que**, **dont**, **lequel**, **auquel**, **ce qui** and **ce que**
- Understand the uses of **y** and **en**, especially with **à + thing/place** and **de + noun/quantity**
- Recognise that with the **passé composé** and **avoir**, a preceding direct object can trigger **past participle agreement**

## Test Your Knowledge

_Attempt these questions before reading this article. If you find some difficult or cannot remember the answers, look more closely at that area during your revision._

1. What is the difference between **Je le vois** and **Je lui parle**?
2. Where does the pronoun go in **Je vais le voir**?
3. How do **qui**, **que** and **dont** differ?
4. What is the difference between **ce qui** and **ce que**?
5. How does pronoun order change in **Donne-le-moi** compared with **Ne me le donne pas**?

## Introduction

Pronouns are one of the quickest ways to improve the quality of your A-level French. In Paper 2, they help you avoid repetition, write more compact analysis, and produce the kind of linked, controlled sentences that sound like real essay French rather than translated English.

They are also a common source of avoidable mistakes. Students often know the forms but not the logic: they confuse **COD** and **COI**, misplace pronouns around infinitives, or choose **que** when the sentence needs **dont**. The key is to work through pronouns in a fixed order: identify the function, choose the form, place it correctly, then check any knock-on agreement.

> **Key Term: pronoun**
> A word that replaces a noun, such as a person, thing or idea, to avoid repetition.

## Teaching Sections

### Object pronouns: choosing the right form

French object pronouns matter because they compress information. In an essay, instead of repeating a noun again and again, you can replace it neatly. Compare:

- **Le personnage critique la société. L’auteur critique aussi la société.**
- **Le personnage la critique, et l’auteur la critique aussi.**

This sounds tighter and more natural.

The first decision is grammatical, not stylistic: is the noun a **direct object** or an **indirect object**?

> **Key Term: direct object pronoun (COD)**
> A pronoun replacing a noun directly affected by the verb, with no preposition between the verb and the noun.
>
> **Key Term: indirect object pronoun (COI)**
> A pronoun replacing a noun linked to the verb by a preposition, usually **à**.

Examples:

- **Je vois le personnage** → **Je le vois**
- **Nous aimons ces valeurs** → **Nous les aimons**
- **Je parle au personnage** → **Je lui parle**
- **Ils écrivent aux victimes** → **Ils leur écrivent**

The third person forms are where most mistakes happen:

- **le / la / les** = direct
- **lui / leur** = indirect

So:

- **Je le comprends** = I understand him/it
- **Je lui parle** = I speak to him/her

Students often use English logic and write _je lui comprends_. That is wrong because **comprendre** takes a direct object.

A good revision habit is to learn verbs with their structure:

- **attendre quelqu’un**
- **chercher quelqu’un**
- **aider quelqu’un**
- **voir quelqu’un**

but

- **parler à quelqu’un**
- **dire à quelqu’un**
- **téléphoner à quelqu’un**
- **demander à quelqu’un de faire quelque chose**

Some verbs take both:

- **donner quelque chose à quelqu’un**
- **envoyer quelque chose à quelqu’un**

That leads to double pronouns:

- **Je vais le lui donner**
- **Elle les leur explique**
  > **Test Tip:** If you are unsure between **le/la/les** and **lui/leur**, do not translate the pronoun first. Check the verb pattern first: does the verb take **à** with a person or not?

Two common traps:

1. **people vs things** does not decide COD/COI on its own
   - **Je vois Marie** → **Je la vois**
   - **Je parle à Marie** → **Je lui parle**

2. first and second person forms are the same in direct and indirect use
   - **me, te, nous, vous** can be COD or COI depending on the verb

That is why third person forms need the most care.

### Position and order: before the verb, before the infinitive, and with the imperative

French clitic pronouns usually go before the verb. This feels unusual to English speakers, but it is the default pattern.

- **Je le vois**
- **Je lui parle**
- **Je ne les comprends pas**
- **Nous leur avons écrit**
  > **Key Term: pronoun order**
  > The fixed sequence French uses when more than one object pronoun appears in the same clause.

The normal order before a conjugated verb is:

- **me / te / se / nous / vous**
- **le / la / les**
- **lui / leur**
- **y**
- **en**

So:

- **Je te le donne**
- **Il nous y conduit**
- **Elle m’en parle**
- **On la lui explique**

Students often produce English-based order such as _lui le_ or _y lui_. The sequence is fixed, so you must memorise it as a pattern, not invent it each time.

Now add an infinitive. If the pronoun belongs to the infinitive, it usually goes before the infinitive, not before the first verb:

- **Je vais le voir**
- **Nous voulons leur parler**
- **Il peut s’y habituer**
- **Elle va nous en parler**

This matters a lot in essays, because analytical writing often uses verbs like **vouloir**, **pouvoir**, **aller**, **devoir** and **falloir**.

Compare these carefully:

- **Je l’ai vu** = I saw him/it
- **Je vais le voir** = I am going to see him/it

In the first, the pronoun belongs to the finite verb phrase. In the second, it belongs to the infinitive **voir**.

Now the imperative. This is where the order changes in the affirmative command:

- **Donne-le-moi**
- **Parlez-lui-en**
- **Vas-y**
- **Prends-en**

In the affirmative imperative, pronouns go after the verb and are joined by hyphens. Also, **me** and **te** become **moi** and **toi**.

But the negative imperative goes back to the normal pre-verbal order:

- **Ne me le donne pas**
- **Ne lui en parle pas**
- **N’y va pas**

A useful comparison:

| Context                | Correct form           |
| ---------------------- | ---------------------- |
| Normal clause          | **Je te le donne**     |
| Affirmative imperative | **Donne-le-moi**       |
| Negative imperative    | **Ne me le donne pas** |

That contrast is highly testable because the form changes but the meaning stays close.

> **Test Tip:** Learn imperative pronouns as a contrast pair, not in isolation: **Donne-le-moi / Ne me le donne pas**. Examiners often test the switch in position and order.

Common student errors here:

- putting pronouns before an affirmative imperative: _me le donne_
- forgetting **moi/toi** after the verb
- keeping imperative order in the negative: _Ne le-moi donne pas_

### Relative pronouns: qui, que, dont, lequel, ce qui, ce que, ce dont

Relative pronouns are especially valuable in Paper 2 because they create analysis instead of separate short statements.

Compare:

- **Le personnage vit dans une société. Cette société le rejette.**
- **Le personnage vit dans une société qui le rejette.**

The second version is more fluent and more sophisticated.

> **Key Term: relative pronoun**
> A pronoun that links one clause to another, such as **qui**, **que** or **dont**.

Start with the three core forms.

**Qui** is the subject of the following verb:

- **le personnage qui parle**
- **la société qui l’exclut**

**Que** is the direct object of the following verb:

- **le roman que j’ai lu**
- **les valeurs qu’il défend**

**Dont** is used when the structure requires **de**:

- **le sujet dont il parle**
- **la liberté dont elle a besoin**
- **l’auteur dont l’œuvre critique la société**

This is the distinction students miss most often. They translate English **that** and guess. Instead, test the underlying structure:

- **parler de** → **dont**
- **avoir besoin de** → **dont**
- **être fier de** → **dont**

So:

- _le livre que je parle_ is wrong
- **le livre dont je parle** is correct

Now the **ce** forms, which AQA highlights.

> **Key Term: ce qui / ce que / ce dont**
> Relative structures meaning “what,” where **ce qui** is subject, **ce que** is object, and **ce dont** follows a construction with **de**.

Use:

- **ce qui** = what + does / is subject
  - **Ce qui frappe, c’est la violence du personnage.**

- **ce que** = what + is affected / object
  - **Ce que l’auteur montre, c’est l’isolement du héros.**

- **ce dont** = what + de structure
  - **Ce dont il a besoin, c’est d’affection.**

A useful memory line:

- **ce qui** = what does
- **ce que** = what is done to
- **ce dont** = what follows **de**

These phrases are excellent for essays:

- **Ce qui est frappant, c’est...**
- **Ce que l’auteur veut souligner, c’est...**
- **Ce dont le personnage souffre, c’est...**

They help you sound analytical very quickly.

Now **lequel** forms. These are more formal and often appear after prepositions:

- **la société dans laquelle il vit**
- **les valeurs auxquelles elle s’oppose**
- **le projet auquel il participe**

**Auquel** = **à + lequel**, with agreement:

- **auquel**
- **à laquelle**
- **auxquels**
- **auxquelles**

These are useful in essays because they avoid vague sentence chains and create more elegant written French.

A distinction worth learning:

- use **dont** after a verb/adjective/noun directly followed by **de**
- use **duquel / de laquelle** type forms after larger prepositional phrases such as **près de**, **à côté de**, **au sujet de**

So:

- **le sujet dont je parle**
- **la ville près de laquelle il habite**

not _la ville dont il habite près_

### Pronouns, y and en, and the accuracy traps that raise essay quality

The pronouns **y** and **en** are high-value because they make French more idiomatic and reduce repetition.

> **Key Term: y**
> A pronoun meaning “there” or replacing **à + thing/place**.
>
> **Key Term: en**
> A pronoun meaning “from there” or replacing **de + noun**, quantity, or partitive expressions.

Use **y** for place:

- **Il va à Paris** → **Il y va**
- **Nous sommes allés au musée** → **Nous y sommes allés**

Use **y** for **à + thing**:

- **Je pense à ce problème** → **J’y pense**
- **Il répond à cette question** is not usually replaced with **y** when it refers to a person; **y** mainly replaces things, not people.

Use **en** for **de + noun**:

- **Il parle de cette idée** → **Il en parle**
- **Elle revient du centre-ville** → **Elle en revient**

Use **en** with quantities and partitives:

- **Tu veux du pain ? J’en veux.**
- **Il a trois arguments; il en utilise deux.**

The core contrast is:

- **à + thing/place** → **y**
- **de + noun/quantity** → **en**

Students often confuse them because English often translates both loosely as “it” or “there”.

Now the agreement trap. With **avoir**, the past participle agrees only with a preceding direct object.

- **Marie ? Je l’ai vue.**
- **Les lettres que j’ai écrites**
- **Je les ai prises**

But no agreement with indirect objects:

- **Je lui ai parlé**
- **Je leur ai téléphoné**

and usually none with **y** or **en** in this role for A-level purposes:

- **J’y ai pensé**
- **J’en ai pris**

This is vital for Paper 2 because pronoun use and agreement often appear in the same sentence. If you write:

- **les valeurs que le personnage a défendues**
- **je les ai vues**

you show control of both relative pronouns and agreement.

A final point: pronouns improve cohesion in literary essays. They stop your writing sounding repetitive:

- **la société dans laquelle il vit**
- **ce qui montre que**
- **ce dont il souffre**
- **je l’ai déjà montré**
- **l’auteur y revient plusieurs fois**

That is exactly the sort of controlled, connected French that helps AO3.

### French Language Toolkit

#### Topic vocabulary

| French                         | English                     |
| ------------------------------ | --------------------------- |
| le pronom                      | pronoun                     |
| le pronom objet direct         | direct object pronoun       |
| le pronom objet indirect       | indirect object pronoun     |
| le complément d’objet direct   | direct object               |
| le complément d’objet indirect | indirect object             |
| l’ordre des pronoms            | pronoun order               |
| la place des pronoms           | pronoun placement           |
| le pronom relatif              | relative pronoun            |
| qui                            | who/which/that              |
| que                            | whom/which/that             |
| dont                           | whose/of which              |
| lequel                         | which one / which           |
| auquel                         | to which                    |
| ce qui                         | what (subject)              |
| ce que                         | what (object)               |
| ce dont                        | what ... of / what after de |
| y                              | there / to it               |
| en                             | from there / of it / some   |
| le pronom réfléchi             | reflexive pronoun           |
| l’impératif affirmatif         | affirmative imperative      |

#### Complex sentence patterns

- **Ce qui est frappant, c’est que l’auteur utilise les pronoms relatifs pour relier les idées.**  
  What is striking is that the author uses relative pronouns to link ideas.

- **Ce que le personnage révèle à travers ses paroles montre qu’il manque de confiance.**  
  What the character reveals through his words shows that he lacks confidence.

- **Bien que la structure paraisse simple, il faut qu’on fasse attention à l’ordre des pronoms.**  
  Although the structure seems simple, we must pay attention to pronoun order.

- **Le thème auquel l’auteur revient le plus souvent est celui de l’exclusion.**  
  The theme to which the author returns most often is that of exclusion.

- **La société dans laquelle il vit explique en partie ce comportement.**  
  The society in which he lives partly explains this behaviour.

- **Ce dont elle a besoin, c’est d’un soutien moral plutôt que matériel.**  
  What she needs is moral rather than material support.

- **Si l’on emploie correctement les pronoms, l’analyse devient plus fluide et plus précise.**  
  If pronouns are used correctly, the analysis becomes more fluent and more precise.

#### Opinion and argument phrases

- **À mon avis, l’usage correct des pronoms rend le français beaucoup plus naturel.**  
  In my opinion, the correct use of pronouns makes French much more natural.

- **Je dirais que cette structure est utile surtout dans une dissertation.**  
  I would say that this structure is useful especially in an essay.

- **Il est évident que la précision grammaticale est essentielle.**  
  It is obvious that grammatical precision is essential.

- **En revanche, beaucoup d’élèves confondent encore qui, que et dont.**  
  On the other hand, many students still confuse qui, que and dont.

- **Je ne suis pas sûr(e) que tous les candidats maîtrisent ces distinctions.**  
  I am not sure that all candidates master these distinctions.

## Key Point Checklist

_This article has covered the following key knowledge points:_

- French object pronouns usually go before the verb
- **le, la, les** are direct object pronouns, while **lui, leur** are indirect object pronouns
- The normal pronoun order is **me/te/se/nous/vous → le/la/les → lui/leur → y → en**
- If a pronoun belongs to an infinitive, it usually goes before that infinitive: **Je vais le voir**
- In the affirmative imperative, pronouns go after the verb: **Donne-le-moi**
- In the negative imperative, pronouns return before the verb: **Ne me le donne pas**
- **qui** is the subject of the following verb; **que** is its direct object
- **dont** is used when the structure requires **de**
- **ce qui** means “what” as subject, **ce que** as object, and **ce dont** after **de**
- **lequel** and **auquel** forms are especially useful after prepositions in formal written French
- **y** usually replaces **à + thing/place**, while **en** usually replaces **de + noun** or a quantity
- With **avoir**, a past participle agrees only with a preceding direct object: **Je les ai vues**

## Key Terms and Concepts

- pronoun
- direct object pronoun (COD)
- indirect object pronoun (COI)
- pronoun order
- relative pronoun
- ce qui / ce que / ce dont
- y
- en


Grammar - Pronouns