{"id":104,"date":"2022-12-20T12:19:33","date_gmt":"2022-12-20T11:19:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.learn-french-fun.com\/blog\/?p=104"},"modified":"2024-02-19T09:05:43","modified_gmt":"2024-02-19T08:05:43","slug":"the-direct-object-complement-in-french-c-o-d-and-direct-complement-pronouns-le-la-les","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.learn-french-fun.com\/blog\/the-direct-object-complement-in-french-c-o-d-and-direct-complement-pronouns-le-la-les\/","title":{"rendered":"The Direct Object Complement in French (C.O.D.) and direct complement pronouns (le, la, les\u2026)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>If you are a student of French, you have undoubtedly encountered the <strong>direct object complement (C.O.D.)<\/strong>. This little-known part of French grammar <strong>can be confusing<\/strong> at first, but with a little practice, you&rsquo;ll be able to use it like a pro! <\/p>\n\n\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-table-of-contents uagb-toc__align-left uagb-toc__columns-1 uagb-toc__collapse uagb-block-1b7b7d8b     \"\n\t\t\t\t\tdata-scroll= \"1\"\n\t\t\t\t\tdata-offset= \"30\"\n\t\t\t\t\tstyle=\"\"\n\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"uagb-toc__wrap\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"uagb-toc__title\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<strong>Table of contents<\/strong>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<svg xmlns=\"https:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewBox= \"0 0 384 512\"><path d=\"M192 384c-8.188 0-16.38-3.125-22.62-9.375l-160-160c-12.5-12.5-12.5-32.75 0-45.25s32.75-12.5 45.25 0L192 306.8l137.4-137.4c12.5-12.5 32.75-12.5 45.25 0s12.5 32.75 0 45.25l-160 160C208.4 380.9 200.2 384 192 384z\"><\/path><\/svg>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class='uagb-toc__separator'><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"uagb-toc__list-wrap\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<ol class=\"uagb-toc__list\"><li class=\"uagb-toc__list\"><a href=\"#a-pronoun-in-french-what-is-it\" class=\"uagb-toc-link__trigger\">A pronoun in French. What is it?<\/a><li class=\"uagb-toc__list\"><a href=\"#what-is-a-french-direct-complement-pronoun\" class=\"uagb-toc-link__trigger\">What is a French direct complement pronoun?<\/a><li class=\"uagb-toc__list\"><a href=\"#the-direct-object-complement-in-french\" class=\"uagb-toc-link__trigger\">The direct object complement in French<\/a><li class=\"uagb-toc__list\"><a href=\"#what-is-the-cod\" class=\"uagb-toc-link__trigger\">What is the COD?<\/a><ul class=\"uagb-toc__list\"><li class=\"uagb-toc__list\"><a href=\"#method-to-find-the-cod-in-a-french-sentence\" class=\"uagb-toc-link__trigger\">Method to find the COD in a French sentence<\/a><li class=\"uagb-toc__list\"><li class=\"uagb-toc__list\"><a href=\"#position-of-the-french-cod-pronoun-in-the-sentence\" class=\"uagb-toc-link__trigger\">Position of the French COD pronoun in the sentence<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class=\"uagb-toc__list\"><a href=\"#to-summarize\" class=\"uagb-toc-link__trigger\">To summarize<\/a><li class=\"uagb-toc__list\"><a href=\"#french-quiz\" class=\"uagb-toc-link__trigger\">\u2714\ufe0f French QUIZ<\/a><ul class=\"uagb-toc__list\"><li class=\"uagb-toc__list\"><a href=\"#cod-pronoms-cod\" class=\"uagb-toc-link__trigger\">COD &amp; Pronoms COD<\/a><\/li><\/ul><li class=\"uagb-toc__list\"><a href=\"#articles-that-might-interest-you\" class=\"uagb-toc-link__trigger\">Articles that might interest you:<\/a><\/ul><\/ol>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>In this blog post, we&rsquo;ll take a closer look at <strong>the C.O.D in French<\/strong>, and we&rsquo;ll also learn about the <strong>direct complement pronouns<\/strong>. So pour yourself a cup of coffee and let&rsquo;s get started! <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Knowing how to use <strong>French direct pronouns<\/strong> correctly will be a very good thing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.learn-french-fun.com\/blog\/how-are-french-delf-b2-students-graded\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">to get a good score in the DELF B2<\/a> if you want to take the exam one day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Today we will see <strong>French direct pronouns<\/strong>, but first, let&rsquo;s remind ourselves about pronouns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"COD et PRONOMS COMPLEMENTS DIRECTS en fran\u00e7ais. Qu&#039;est-ce que le C.O.D. ? Les pronoms LE, LA, LES\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/x60Ng0gpvl0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-container uagb-block-af8c0edc alignfull uagb-is-root-container\"><div class=\"uagb-container-inner-blocks-wrap\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-container uagb-block-35a8548f\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"500\" src=\"https:\/\/www.learn-french-fun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/img-pdf-bonus-french.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1925\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.learn-french-fun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/img-pdf-bonus-french.png 600w, https:\/\/www.learn-french-fun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/img-pdf-bonus-french-300x250.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-container uagb-block-64fd7e53\">\n<p class=\"has-large-font-size\"><strong>PDF Bonus<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We have prepared a <strong>free PDF<\/strong> to help you <strong>understand and master the COD and direct pronouns in French<\/strong>. <br>\ud83d\udc49 <a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/3eYnVO0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Download it for free<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At the end, you will have <strong>exercises <\/strong>to practice with the <strong>correction<\/strong>. \ud83d\udc4d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A pronoun in French. What is it?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>A French pronoun is a word that <strong>replaces a noun<\/strong>, <strong>a word<\/strong> that is used in place of a noun. Thanks to the pronoun there is <strong>no need to repeat<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You already know the subject pronouns: \u00ab\u00a0I\u00a0\u00bb, \u00ab\u00a0you\u00a0\u00bb, \u00ab\u00a0he\u00a0\u00bb, \u00ab\u00a0we\u00a0\u00bb, etc. When you use them, you replace a noun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You don&rsquo;t have to say: <em>the students are working, the students are nice<\/em>; we say: \u00ab\u00a0Students work, <strong>they <\/strong>are nice\u00a0\u00bb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>OK, that&rsquo;s all right. This is the <strong>subject pronouns<\/strong>, what is a pronoun?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Great. You can see also <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.learn-french-fun.com\/blog\/how-to-use-the-tonic-pronouns-in-french\/\" target=\"_blank\">our article on tonic pronouns in French<\/a>, or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.learn-french-fun.com\/blog\/how-to-use-en-and-y-pronoun-in-french\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">how to use \u00ab\u00a0en\u00a0\u00bb and \u00ab\u00a0y\u00a0\u00bb pronoun in French<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We want to see the <strong>French pronouns direct complements<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-large-font-size\" style=\"color:#60bceb\"><strong>Do you like learning French with videos?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Receive <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/learn-french-fun.com\/newsletter\" target=\"_blank\">our free video newsletter<\/a> every Friday in your e-mail box. You will get <strong>3 \u00ab\u00a0Tips &amp; Tricks\u00a0\u00bb<\/strong> on <strong>grammar<\/strong>, <strong>vocabulary<\/strong>, <strong>phonetics <\/strong>or <strong>French culture<\/strong>.<br>\ud83d\udc49\ud83d\udc49 <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/learn-french-fun.com\/newsletter\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Sign up now!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/learn-french-fun.com\/newsletter\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.learn-french-fun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/BLOG-newsletter.jpg\" alt=\"Every Friday afternoon, a French-language video delivered straight to your inbox, with three tips and tricks on the French language.\" class=\"wp-image-1882\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.learn-french-fun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/BLOG-newsletter.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.learn-french-fun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/BLOG-newsletter-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What is a French direct complement pronoun?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>So let&rsquo;s see.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I see you, I don&rsquo;t see you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let&rsquo;s analyze this sentence: \u00ab\u00a0<strong>Je vous vois pas<\/strong>\u00a0\u00bb (I don&rsquo;t see you)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>First, it&rsquo;s not very French, but for the example, it&rsquo;s nice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>First thing<\/strong> in a sentence, we <strong>look for<\/strong> the verb. <br>\u2192 What is the <strong>verb <\/strong>here? It&rsquo;s the verb <strong>voir<\/strong> (to see): <strong>vois<\/strong>. <br>\u2192 What is the <strong>subject<\/strong>? The second thing we are still looking for! <strong>\u00ab\u00a0Je\u00a0\u00bb<\/strong>. <strong>Je vois<\/strong>.<br>Here, in this sentence, it is in the <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">negative form<\/span>. That&rsquo;s why there&rsquo;s the \u00ab\u00a0<strong>pas<\/strong>\u00ab\u00a0. That&rsquo;s an important thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A lot of French, orally, do not use the \u00ab\u00a0<em><strong>ne<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0\u00bb in the negation, but they use only the \u00ab\u00a0<strong>pas<\/strong>\u00ab\u00a0. This is <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">not correct<\/span>, the correct form \u00ab\u00a0<strong>Je ne vous vois pa<\/strong>s\u00a0\u00bb, but very often the \u00ab\u00a0ne\u00a0\u00bb hop! And we say: \u00ab\u00a0<strong>Je vous vois pa<\/strong>s\u00a0\u00bb. And strangely, the students do the opposite. They will say: \u00ab\u00a0<em>Je ne vous vois<\/em>\u00ab\u00a0, but they &#8230; \u00ab\u00a0<strong>pas<\/strong>\u00a0\u00bb to the trash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>No, no, no, no, no. <strong>You must always use the \u00ab\u00a0pas\u00a0\u00bb<\/strong>. Or the <strong>plus <\/strong>(no more), or the <strong>rien<\/strong> (nothing), or <strong>personne <\/strong>(nobody), or <strong>jamais <\/strong>(never), that still in the sentence! What you can remove, it is not recommended for a good French language, really correct, it&rsquo;s the \u00ab\u00a0<strong>ne<\/strong>\u00ab\u00a0. But when speaking, it&rsquo;s true, It&rsquo;s something that&rsquo;s common.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2192 And the last part in this sentence, the: <strong>vous<\/strong>? <br>What is the <strong>vous<\/strong>? Je <em>vous<\/em> vois pas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We have already seen that the subject is: <strong>Je<\/strong>. And the <strong>vous<\/strong>? It&rsquo;s true that it looks very much like a subject pronoun &#8211; do you remember the list: \u00ab\u00a0<em>je, tu, il, nous, <strong>vous<\/strong><\/em>&#8230;\u00a0\u00bb &#8211; but here, is it a subject pronoun? No, it&rsquo;s already <strong>Je<\/strong>, the subject pronoun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And a sentence or rather, a verb in the sentence, <strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">has never 2 subjects<\/span><\/strong>!<br>One verb, one subject, and that&rsquo;s it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, what&rsquo;s the <strong>vous<\/strong>? Of course, we&rsquo;re doing a blog post on direct complement pronouns, so,<strong> it&rsquo;s a direct complement pronoun!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Of course, this is easy. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But how do you know it&rsquo;s a direct complement pronoun? How do I know that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The direct object complement in French<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>First of all, the <strong>direct complement pronoun<\/strong> replaces the <strong>COD<\/strong>, <em>i.e. the Direct Object Complement<\/em> of the sentence. This notion of COD is very important, because you will find it <strong>very often<\/strong> in many grammar rules. So it&rsquo;s really important to understand what it is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The COD:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>\u00ab\u00a0C\u00a0\u00bb: complement,<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u00ab\u00a0O\u00a0\u00bb: object,<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u00ab\u00a0D\u00a0\u00bb: direct;&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>direct object complement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What is the COD?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The <strong>subject<\/strong>\u2026 He <strong>does <\/strong>the action.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The <strong>COD<\/strong>, he is the <strong>object of the action<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>And how do we find the COD in the sentence? <strong>Simply with the question \u00ab\u00a0who?\u00a0\u00bb or \u00ab\u00a0what?\u00a0\u00bb<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Method to find the COD in a French sentence<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>You have a very simple technique to find the COD: You take the subject of the sentence, because you obviously have looked for the subject and looked for the verb, always the first thing to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color\" style=\"color:#a75881\">\u2192 <strong>You take the subject, the verb and ask the question \u00ab\u00a0who?\u00a0\u00bb or \u00ab\u00a0what?\u00a0\u00bb <br>Well, the answer to this question is the COD.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Be careful, there must be <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>no<\/strong> preposition<\/span>. You know, \u00ab\u00a0to\u00a0\u00bb, \u00ab\u00a0with\u00a0\u00bb, \u00ab\u00a0at\u00a0\u00bb&#8230;<br>No! It must be a group of words a direct, simple word, without preposition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>An article is possible, but no preposition. Because otherwise it&rsquo;s not a COD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I&rsquo;ll give you an example. A very simple example: \u00ab\u00a0I eat the apple.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The <strong>verb<\/strong>: \u00ab\u00a0to eat\u00a0\u00bb,&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>the <strong>subject<\/strong>: \u00ab\u00a0I\u00a0\u00bb<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The <strong>technique<\/strong>: \u00ab\u00a0I eat what?\u00a0\u00bb \u2192 The apple<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>\u00ab\u00a0the apple\u00a0\u00bb is the COD. It is the object of the action \u00ab\u00a0to eat\u00a0\u00bb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You see, no preposition. It&rsquo;s not: \u00ab\u00a0I eat <em>from <\/em>the apple\u00a0\u00bb, \u00ab\u00a0I eat <em>at <\/em>the apple\u00a0\u00bb,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;\u00ab\u00a0I eat at&#8230;\u00a0\u00bb No! Only: <strong>the apple<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What do I eat? The apple? I know that \u00ab\u00a0the apple\u00a0\u00bb is the COD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now that I know it&rsquo;s the COD, if I want to replace it with the pronoun direct complement, well, I&rsquo;ll take the pronoun from the list of direct complement pronouns. And just replace it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\ud83d\udccc Another thing, <strong>I&rsquo;m going to change the position<\/strong>. Don&rsquo;t worry, we&rsquo;ll see about that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let&rsquo;s look at the list of direct complement pronouns. As with the tonic pronouns, we will make a table, because you already know the <strong>subject pronouns<\/strong> and so we&rsquo;re going to do <strong>correspondence with French direct complements<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table aligncenter\"><table class=\"has-background\" style=\"background-color:#f3dfa3\"><tbody><tr><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\"><strong>subject pronoun<\/strong><\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\"><strong>direct complement pronouns<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">je<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">me<\/td><\/tr><tr><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">tu<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">te<\/td><\/tr><tr><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">il<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">le (l\u2019)<\/td><\/tr><tr><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">elle<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">la (l\u2019)<\/td><\/tr><tr><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">nous<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">nous<\/td><\/tr><tr><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">vous<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">vous<\/td><\/tr><tr><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">ils<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">les<\/td><\/tr><tr><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">elles<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">les<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Correspondence table of subject pronouns in French with direct pronouns<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>We take the example again: <strong>Je mange la pomme<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>La pomme<\/strong> (the apple) is not \u00ab\u00a0I\u00a0\u00bb?! it&rsquo;s not \u00ab\u00a0you\u00a0\u00bb! It&rsquo;s \u00ab\u00a0<strong>elle<\/strong>\u00a0\u00bb (in French, it\u2019s \u201cher\u201d). <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Look at the table of correspondence between the <strong>subject pronouns<\/strong> and the <strong>COD pronouns<\/strong>.<br>What is the COD pronoun?  \u2192 <strong>la<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Position of the French COD pronoun in the sentence<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>I change the position<\/strong>. Where do I put the pronoun?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It&rsquo;s very easy, always just <strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">before the verb<\/span><\/strong>. Always!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2192 <strong>Je <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">la<\/span> mange<\/strong> (I eat it.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Always before the verb. Always! Even in compound tenses. Even with negation, even with modal verbs. Always before, we&rsquo;ll see examples. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And if you want, we have written an article that explains exactly the <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.learn-french-fun.com\/blog\/position-of-pronouns-and-negation-words-in-french\/\" target=\"_blank\">position of pronouns and negation words in French<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-background\" style=\"background-color:#f3dfa3\"><tbody><tr><td>\ud83d\udccc <strong>Do you want to practice?<\/strong><br>Download the <strong>Little PDF Bonus<\/strong>. You will find some exercises to practice <strong>with the pronoun table<\/strong>, <strong>with several verbs<\/strong>, <strong>several tenses<\/strong>; like this, you&rsquo;ll be able to practice.<br>That&rsquo;s what&rsquo;s important\u2026 Practice!<br><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/learn-french-fun.com\/pdf-bonus\/index.php?exo=prdi\" target=\"_blank\">Download for free the Bonus PDF on COD &amp; direct complement pronoun<\/a><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>So be careful, the pronouns that can cause you problems:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>\u201cil\u201d \u2192 le ;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u201celle\u201d \u2192 \u201cla\u201d ;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u201cils\u201d, \u201celles\u201d \u2192 \u201cles\u201d.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>So, let&rsquo;s take an example with each pronoun in the list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Je me regarde dans le miroir<\/strong>. (I look at myself in the mirror).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Je le regarde<\/strong>. (I look at him).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Je nous regarde<\/strong>. (I&rsquo;m looking at us).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Je les regarde<\/strong>. (I&rsquo;m looking at them).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Imagine, with the last example: \u00ab\u00a0I look at them\u00a0\u00bb. Here we have the direct pronoun. But, don&rsquo;t forget that a pronoun replaces a noun, the normal sentence could be:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>\u00ab\u00a0I watch sportsmen\u00a0\u00bb,<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u00ab\u00a0I watch actors\u00a0\u00bb,<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u00ab\u00a0I watch women\u00a0\u00bb,<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>but I replace with the pronoun: <strong>Je <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">les<\/span> regarde<\/strong>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">To summarize<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>So, to sum up, how do you do it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>First thing: <\/strong>Ask yourself, <em>What do I want to replace?<\/em> Is this a direct object complement? Is this an indirect object? How do you know that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-background\" style=\"background-color:#d8e7c1\"><tbody><tr><td>\ud83d\udccc <strong>A tip:<\/strong> <br>When you write <strong>new vocabulary words<\/strong>, when you write a <strong>new verb<\/strong>, <strong>note if it is a verb you are using directly or indirectly, or both<\/strong>. <br><br>For example:<br><strong>T\u00e9l\u00e9phoner <\/strong>(To call):<br>\u201cJe t\u00e9l\u00e9phone quelqu&rsquo;un ? or \u201cJe t\u00e9l\u00e9phone <strong>\u00e0<\/strong> quelqu&rsquo;un ?\u201d (Am I calling someone?)<br>Je t\u00e9l\u00e9phone <strong>\u00e0<\/strong> quelqu\u2019un. TO someone, that means <strong>indirect verb<\/strong>!<br><br>It means the list of pronouns that we have just seen, no, that doesn&rsquo;t work. It&rsquo;s other pronouns. So, when you write down a vocabulary verb, always remember to write down \u00ab\u00a0<strong>direct<\/strong>\u00ab\u00a0, \u00ab\u00a0<strong>indirect<\/strong>\u00a0\u00bb or <strong>both<\/strong>.<br><br>For example, <strong>envoyer <\/strong>(to send), can be <strong>direct <\/strong>or <strong>indirect<\/strong>. This way, you will know which pronoun to use. And <strong>this is really important<\/strong>.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, finally, the question to ask yourself: Is it really a COD that I am replacing? OK, this is a COD. Use the pronoun that is correct that you have in the list!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-container uagb-block-6ec9e552 alignfull uagb-is-root-container\"><div class=\"uagb-container-inner-blocks-wrap\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-container uagb-block-abbb907b\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-container uagb-block-58a92110\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u2714\ufe0f French QUIZ<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-container uagb-block-fcc8a6da\">\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">COD &amp; Pronoms COD<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-container uagb-block-89d51818\">\n<p><em>Before leaving, let&rsquo;s take this little quiz together to see if you understand<\/em> \ud83d\ude00<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-hdq-quiz-block hdq-quiz-gutenberg\"><div class = \"hdq_quiz_wrapper\"><a href = \"https:\/\/www.learn-french-fun.com\/blog\/the-direct-object-complement-in-french-c-o-d-and-direct-complement-pronouns-le-la-les\/\" rel=\"noamphtml\" class = \"hdq_quiz_start hdq_button button\" role = \"button\" title = \"D\u00e9marrer le quiz\">D\u00e9marrer le quiz<\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\ud83d\udccc Free PDF Bonus<\/strong>: <br>Do you want to do <strong>more exercises<\/strong> on COD and direct pronouns in French and have the <strong>correction<\/strong>? Have a <strong>summary sheet of the lesson<\/strong>?<br>Then <strong><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.learn-french-fun.com\/pdf-bonus\/index.php?exo=prdi\" target=\"_blank\">download the free Bonus PDF<\/a><\/strong>!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>So there you have it! The <strong>direct object complement in French<\/strong>. Now that you know all about it, go out and impress your friends by using this fancy grammar term correctly in a sentence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And if you&rsquo;re looking for more ways to learn French online, be sure to check out our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.learn-french-fun.com\/blog\/category\/french-grammar\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">other French grammar blog posts<\/a> or sign up for one of our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.learn-french-fun.com\/en\/french-course-online.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">French online classes<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We can&rsquo;t wait to help you become a fluent francophone! \ud83d\udc4d<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.buymeacoffee.com\/learnfrenchfun\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/www.learn-french-fun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/bmc-encart-blog.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1885\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.learn-french-fun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/bmc-encart-blog.png 600w, https:\/\/www.learn-french-fun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/bmc-encart-blog-300x200.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Articles that might interest you: <\/h3>\n\n\n<ul class=\"lcp_catlist\" id=\"lcp_instance_0\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.learn-french-fun.com\/blog\/the-imperative-in-french-how-to-conjugate-verbs-in-imperative-when-do-you-have-to-use-the-imperative\/\">The Imperative in French: How to Conjugate Verbs in Imperative? When do You Have to Use the Imperative?<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.learn-french-fun.com\/blog\/the-10-irregular-verbs-in-the-french-subjunctive-mood\/\">The 10 Irregular Verbs in the French Subjunctive Mood<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.learn-french-fun.com\/blog\/depuis-pendant-en-ilya-dans\/\">Depuis, pendant, en, il y a, dans<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.learn-french-fun.com\/blog\/all-the-secrets-of-the-french-gerund\/\">All the secrets of the French gerund!<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.learn-french-fun.com\/blog\/french-verb-moods\/\">French verb moods<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.learn-french-fun.com\/blog\/how-to-use-the-tonic-pronouns-in-french\/\">How to use the tonic pronouns in French?<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.learn-french-fun.com\/blog\/how-to-use-en-and-y-pronoun-in-french\/\">How to use \u00ab\u00a0en\u00a0\u00bb and \u00ab\u00a0y\u00a0\u00bb pronoun in French?<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.learn-french-fun.com\/blog\/difference-between-dont-and-duquel-in-french\/\">Difference between DONT and DUQUEL in French<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.learn-french-fun.com\/blog\/10-dangerous-french-verbs\/\"><strong>10 common French verbs conjugated in the present tense. Beware of traps!<\/strong><\/a><\/li><li class=\"current\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.learn-french-fun.com\/blog\/the-direct-object-complement-in-french-c-o-d-and-direct-complement-pronouns-le-la-les\/\">The Direct Object Complement in French (C.O.D.) and direct complement pronouns (le, la, les\u2026)<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In French, verbs have objects. There are three types of objects: direct object (complement d&rsquo;objet direct or C.O.D.), indirect object (complement d&rsquo;objet indirect or C.O.I.), and prepositional phrase object (complement d&rsquo;objet de la pr\u00e9position). Today we&rsquo;re going to focus on the direct object complement, which is also called the accusative case. This is a fancy way of saying that it&rsquo;s the thing that gets hit by the action of the verb! In English, this is usually done with a pronoun like \u00ab\u00a0me\u00a0\u00bb or \u00ab\u00a0him\u00a0\u00bb; in French, it&rsquo;s done with a specific set of pronouns\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":109,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-french-grammar"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/www.learn-french-fun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/img-COD.jpg",1000,667,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.learn-french-fun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/img-COD-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.learn-french-fun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/img-COD-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.learn-french-fun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/img-COD-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.learn-french-fun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/img-COD.jpg",1000,667,false],"hd_qu_size2":["https:\/\/www.learn-french-fun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/img-COD.jpg",400,267,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.learn-french-fun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/img-COD.jpg",1000,667,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.learn-french-fun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/img-COD.jpg",1000,667,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Christian","author_link":"https:\/\/www.learn-french-fun.com\/blog\/author\/christian\/"},"uagb_comment_info":27,"uagb_excerpt":"In French, verbs have objects. There are three types of objects: direct object (complement d'objet direct or C.O.D.), indirect object (complement d'objet indirect or C.O.I.), and prepositional phrase object (complement d'objet de la pr\u00e9position). Today we're going to focus on the direct object complement, which is also called the accusative case. This is a fancy\u2026","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learn-french-fun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learn-french-fun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learn-french-fun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learn-french-fun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learn-french-fun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/www.learn-french-fun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2356,"href":"https:\/\/www.learn-french-fun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104\/revisions\/2356"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learn-french-fun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learn-french-fun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learn-french-fun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learn-french-fun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}