The structure of the phrase in French is similar
to the one we use in English:
Subject + Verb
|
Subject + Verb
|
Le garçon dort
|
The boy sleeps
|
La femme chante
|
La mujer canta
|
Le chien court
|
El perro corre
|
We have seen on our previous lessons that the noun needs an
article and/or an adjective and that it
must agree with the gender and number
Le petit garçon dort
|
The little boy sleeps
|
La petite fille chante
|
The little girl sings
|
Les petits garçons dorment
|
The little boys sleep
|
Les petites filles chantent
|
The little girls sing
|
If the phrase has a directo r indirect compliment they have to go after the verb:
Je lis un livre
|
I read a book
|
Il aide son père
|
He helps his father
|
Mon ami achète une voiture
|
My friend buys a car
|
La mère parle á son fils
|
The mother talks with her child
|
If there are both a direct and indirect compliment in the phrase,
there is no specific order for them. However,
if you want to emphasize one of the objects you can write it in first place:
Je donne à mon père un tableau
|
I give to my
father a picture (remarking I gave it to my father)
|
Je donne un tableau à mon père
|
I give a picture
to my father (I want to highlight that I gave him a
paint)
|
However, if in the compliments the nouns are changed for their
corresponding pronouns, there must be follow a specific order as we will see:
Je donne à mon père un tableau
|
I give to my father a picture
|
Je lui donne un tableau
|
I give him a picture
|
Je le donne à mon père
|
I give it to my father
|
Je le lui donne
|
I give it to him
|
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