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French Indirect Object Pronouns
French indirect object pronouns — me, te, lui, nous, vous, leur — replace à + a person: lui for one person, male or female, leur for several. They come with a family of very common verbs that reach people through à: parler à, téléphoner à, écrire à, répondre à, donner à.
Tu écris à Léa ? Oui, je lui écris ce soir.
This page covers the six forms, the verbs that demand them, and the placement rules, including the affirmative imperative (téléphone-lui) and the passé composé. If your real question is whether a verb takes le/la or lui, see the direct vs indirect object pronouns guide.
In short
- The forms: me, te, lui, nous, vous, leur — used with verbs built on
à+ person: je lui réponds, je leur écris. - Lui = "to him" or "to her"; leur = "to them" and never takes -s.
- Placement: before the conjugated verb, before
avoirin the passé composé, before an infinitive. Affirmative commands flip it: Téléphone-lui ! - No past participle agreement: je leur ai écrit, never "écrits".
direct object pronounindirect object pronounthe à + person phrasepast participle· hover a highlighted word for its label
Six forms, one gap
The set matches the direct object pronouns except in the third person: no le/la/les, only lui for one person and leur for several. Me and te elide to m’ and t’ before a vowel sound.
| Pronoun | Meaning |
|---|---|
| me / m’ | to me |
| te / t’ | to you |
| lui | to him, to her |
| nous | to us |
| vous | to you (plural or formal) |
| leur | to them |
She writes to me often, but she never phones me.
— Both pronouns are indirect — écrire à, téléphoner à; m’ is me elided before a vowel.
The verbs that take lui and leur
The core verbs are about communication and giving, and in French they all build the person with à. When à introduces a thing or an idea instead, the replacement is y, not lui — see y and en.
| Verb | Meaning |
|---|---|
| parler à, téléphoner à | to speak to, to phone |
| répondre à, écrire à | to answer, to write to |
| donner qqch à, offrir qqch à | to give, to give as a gift |
| demander qqch à, envoyer qqch à | to ask someone for, to send to |
I phone my mother every evening. I phone her every evening.
— À ma mère is one person, so the pronoun is lui.
She writes to her cousins. She writes to them every month.
— À ses cousins is several people, so the pronoun is leur.
Lui means both "to him" and "to her"
English forces a choice between "him" and "her"; lui refuses it. What French does care about is number: one person is lui, two or more are leur.
This is Léa. I am giving her a book for her birthday.
— Léa is female, and the pronoun is still lui.
This is Paul. I am sending him the photos tonight.
— Same lui — gender never changes the form.
Where lui and leur go
Same hop as the other object pronouns: before the conjugated verb in simple tenses, with ne before the pronoun and pas or plus after the verb. With a verb + infinitive, the pronoun stands before the infinitive it belongs to. The one reversal is the affirmative imperative, where the pronoun follows the verb with a hyphen; a negative command moves it back in front (ne lui écris pas). And when lui or leur shares the sentence with le, la, or les (je le lui donne), a fixed pronoun order applies — covered on the double object pronouns page.
We haven’t spoken to them since the argument.
— Ne comes before leur; the pronoun stays glued to the verb.
Can you ask them for the code?
— Leur is the object of demander, so it goes before the infinitive.
She is waiting for your answer: write to her quickly!
— Affirmative command: the pronoun follows the verb — écris-lui.
Passé composé: before avoir, and no agreement
In the passé composé, the pronoun goes before the auxiliary avoir. A preceding direct object makes the past participle agree — see the direct object pronouns page — but a preceding indirect object never does. Je leur ai écrit stays écrit, whoever "they" are.
My cousins? I invited them on Saturday.
— The preceding les makes invitées agree in the feminine plural.
My cousins? I phoned them on Sunday.
— Leur is indirect, so téléphoné never changes.
Common mistakes
✗Elle parle lui tous les jours.
✓Elle lui parle tous les jours.
Outside affirmative commands, the indirect object pronoun goes before the conjugated verb, not after it.
✗Il attend ton appel : lui téléphone ce soir !
✓Il attend ton appel : téléphone-lui ce soir !
An affirmative command puts the pronoun after the verb with a hyphen; it only moves back in front in negative commands (ne lui téléphone pas).
✗Ma grand-mère ? Je lui ai répondue hier.
✓Ma grand-mère ? Je lui ai répondu hier.
Only a preceding direct object triggers past participle agreement; lui is indirect, so the participle stays invariable.
✗Mes amis arrivent : je leurs envoie l’adresse.
✓Mes amis arrivent : je leur envoie l’adresse.
The pronoun leur never takes -s; leurs only exists as a possessive before a plural noun (leurs amis).
Check yourself
1 / 5Tu as parlé à Emma ? Oui, je ___ ai parlé ce matin.
2 / 5Mes parents habitent loin, alors je ___ téléphone tous les dimanches.
3 / 5Le serveur arrive. Nous allons ___ demander l’addition.
4 / 5Ta sœur ? Je lui ai ___ un message hier soir.
5 / 5Ton frère attend une réponse : ___ ce soir !
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between lui and leur in French?
Both are indirect object pronouns for à + a person. Lui replaces one person of either gender (je lui réponds — to him or to her); leur replaces two or more people (je leur réponds — to them).
Where do lui and leur go in a French sentence?
Before the conjugated verb (je lui écris), before avoir in the passé composé (je lui ai écrit), and before an infinitive (je vais lui écrire). Affirmative commands put them after the verb with a hyphen: écris-lui.
Does the past participle agree with lui or leur in the passé composé?
No. With avoir, agreement only happens when a direct object comes before the verb. Indirect objects never trigger it: nous leur avons parlé keeps an invariable participle.
Is leur with a verb the same word as leurs with an -s?
No. The object pronoun leur goes with a verb and is invariable: je leur montre la maison. The possessive leur/leurs goes with a noun and agrees with it: leur maison, leurs photos.
Which French verbs take indirect object pronouns?
Mostly verbs of communication and giving built with à + person: parler à, téléphoner à, répondre à, écrire à, donner à, demander à, envoyer à, offrir à. Verbs with no à (chercher, attendre, écouter) take direct object pronouns instead; the direct vs indirect object pronouns guide teaches the test.
Memory tip
Gender never picks the pronoun; number does. Say the full phrase with the noun first: écrire à Léa gives lui, écrire à ses cousins gives leur.
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