📖LearnModule 6 · Lesson 21 of 30Independent User · CEFR B1, first halfUnit 5 · The pronoun machine
le, la, les — say it without repeating
Module 6 of the free French course (CEFR B1, first half), lesson 21 of 30: Stop repeating nouns: Tu vois le bus? On this page: 7 words with their genders and respellings, the rule, a watch-out line, the conjugation table and the audio — the study notes behind the workbook's lesson 21.
The words
French
English
Say it
je le vois
I see him
zhuh luh VWAH
je la connais
I know her
zhuh lah koh-NEH
je les prends
I take them
zhuh lay PRAH(n)
le pronom
the pronoun
luh proh-NOH(n)
remplacer
to replace
rah(n)-plah-SAY
tu me comprends?
do you understand me?
tew muh koh(n)-PRAH(n)
comprendre
to understand
koh(n)-PRAH(n)DR
Respellings follow the course’s say-it key; the stressed syllable is in capitals. Print this lesson’s flashcards (PDF) — the words on the front, the English and respelling on the back.
Hear the words
Each word is read twice — say it back in the gap. Computer-generated voice; credits on the course page.
La règle · The rule
Stop repeating nouns: Tu vois le bus? Je le vois. Tu connais Marie? Je la connais. The pronoun parks right before the verb.
Et aussi · And also
Le stands for him or it, la for her or it, les for them — and before a vowel both le and la shrink to l': je l'aime.
Attention · Watch out
le and la shrink to l' before a vowel: je l'aime. les never shrinks: je les aime. The pronoun goes before the verb — except in a command: regarde-le.
prendre — the table
je prends · tu prends · il/elle prend · nous prenons · vous prenez · ils/elles prennent
Do it now — on paper
Say all 7 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the French spelling alone — begin with je le vois.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the French.
Write out prendre in full from memory, every person, and check each form against the table above.
This free course is the reading half. The writing half — write-in lessons, daily practice pages with built-in review, self-checks and a full answer key — is the companion workbook series, The French Ladder: one workbook per module, fifteen in all, released band by band with the Basic band (Modules 1–5) first.
Keep these words
Turn this lesson’s words into flashcards, then space your reviews — the two habits the research behind our study guides backs hardest.