What are the indirect object pronouns in French?

Me, te, lui, nous, vous and leur. Lui means to him or to her, and leur means to them. They replace a person introduced by à: j'écris à ma tante becomes je lui écris.

How do I know if a French verb takes an indirect object?

Build a sentence with a name and see whether you need à. Parler à Marie and répondre à Marie take à, so they use lui. Voir Marie and connaître Marie don't, so they use la. The preposition belongs to the verb and often doesn't match English.

What's the difference between lui as an indirect object and lui meaning him?

Position and role. Before a verb, lui is the indirect object pronoun and means to him or to her: je lui parle. After a preposition or standing alone, lui is the stressed pronoun for a man: avec lui, c'est lui. Only the second one is gendered.

Why is there no agreement with leur in Je leur ai écrit?

Because participle agreement is triggered only by a direct object placed in front of the verb. Leur is indirect, so nothing changes. Compare je les ai vus, where les is direct and the participle takes an s.

When do I use y instead of lui?

When the à leads to a thing, a place or an idea rather than a person: je pense à mon travail becomes j'y pense. Lui and leur are reserved for people, so je réponds à la lettre becomes j'y réponds, not je lui réponds.

French grammar · Intermediate

Indirect Object Pronouns in French: Lui, Leur and the Verbs That Need À

Written by Camille Laurent, Lead French Curriculum Editor · Reviewed May 2026

An indirect object is a person the verb reaches through the preposition à: je parle à Marie. The pronouns that replace it are me, te, lui, nous, vous and leur, they go in front of the verb, and they never make the past participle agree. Lui and leur carry no gender, so lui covers both to him and to her.

J'ai écrit à mes grands-parents : je leur ai tout raconté.

I wrote to my grandparents: I told them everything.

What it is

An indirect object is the person something is done to or for, joined to the verb by à. Je donne le livre à Paul has two objects: le livre is direct, à Paul is indirect. Replace the second one and you get je lui donne le livre. Because French marks the distinction with different pronouns in the third person, you have to know which preposition each verb takes.

Elle a répondu à son professeur. → Elle lui a répondu. — She answered her teacher. → She answered him.

How to spot it

Put the verb into a full sentence with a name. If you need à in front of the person, the pronoun is lui in the singular and leur in the plural.

Je téléphone à Julien. — I'm phoning Julien. → Je lui téléphone.
Nous écrivons à nos cousins. — We write to our cousins. → Nous leur écrivons.
Tu demandes à ta mère ? — Are you asking your mother? → Tu lui demandes ?
Elle offre des fleurs à sa voisine. — She's giving her neighbour flowers. → Elle lui offre des fleurs.

Leur as an indirect pronoun never takes an s. That's what separates it from the possessive leurs in leurs enfants, their children.

Indirect Objects Quick Reference

The indirect object pronouns

Person	Pronoun	English	Example
1st singular	me / m'	to me	Il me parle — he's talking to me
2nd singular	te / t'	to you	Je te réponds — I'll answer you
3rd singular	lui	to him, to her	Je lui écris — I'm writing to him
1st plural	nous	to us	Elle nous ment — she's lying to us
2nd plural	vous	to you	On vous envoie tout — we'll send you everything
3rd plural	leur	to them	Je leur téléphone — I'm phoning them
A thing, not a person	y	to it, about it	Je pense à mon travail → j'y pense

Common Indirect Objects Examples in French

Indirect objects with the verbs that require them:

Giving, Saying and Sending

Je lui ai donné mon numéro.: I gave him my number.
Dis-leur la vérité.: Tell them the truth.
Elle nous a envoyé une carte.: She sent us a card.
Je vous montre le chemin.: I'll show you the way.

These verbs typically carry two objects at once: something given, and someone it's given to. Only the second one is indirect.

Verbs Where French Insists on À

Je lui téléphone tous les dimanches.: I phone him every Sunday.
Réponds-lui, il attend.: Answer him, he's waiting.
Le chien lui obéit.: The dog obeys him.
Cette veste lui va très bien.: That jacket suits him very well.

English has no preposition in phone him or obey him, so these have to be learned as French facts: téléphoner à, répondre à, obéir à, aller à.

Verbs Built the Other Way Round

Ce film lui plaît beaucoup.: He likes that film a lot.
Ses parents lui manquent.: He misses his parents.
Il lui faut plus de temps.: She needs more time.
Elle lui ressemble énormément.: She looks a lot like him.

Plaire, manquer, falloir and ressembler put the person in the indirect slot, so the English subject becomes the French object and the sentence inverts.

Position in Different Structures

Je ne lui ai rien dit.: I didn't tell him anything.
Je vais leur expliquer.: I'm going to explain to them.
Parle-lui doucement.: Talk to him gently.
Ne leur réponds pas.: Don't answer them.

The placement rules are identical to those for direct objects: before the verb, before the auxiliary, before the infinitive, and behind an affirmative command.

How Indirect Objects Work

The pronoun is the easy part. Knowing which verbs demand à is the actual work, and it doesn't transfer from English.

The Preposition Belongs to the Verb

Whether an object is direct or indirect is a fact about the verb, not about the meaning. Appeler takes a bare object, téléphoner takes à, and the two are close enough in sense that only the verb entry can tell you.

Je l'appelle, mais je lui téléphone rarement.

I call him, but I rarely phone him.

Check the verb, not the English.

Lui and Leur Have No Gender

In the third person, French drops the gender distinction for indirect objects. Lui means to him and to her; leur means to them for any mixture of people. This is the opposite of the direct pronouns, which are gendered.

Marc et Léa ? Je leur ai déjà parlé.

Marc and Léa? I've already spoken to them.

lui = to him or to her.

The Past Participle Never Agrees

Agreement is triggered only by a preceding direct object. Since indirect objects are not direct objects, the participle stays in its base form even when the pronoun comes first.

Je leur ai écrit et je les ai remerciés.

I wrote to them and I thanked them.

leur → écrit, les → remerciés.

A Thing Becomes Y, Not Lui

Lui and leur are for people. When the à leads to a thing or an idea, the pronoun is y instead, which sits in the same slot in front of the verb.

Tu penses à ton examen ? Oui, j'y pense.

Are you thinking about your exam? Yes, I'm thinking about it.

Person → lui, thing → y.

Direct and Indirect Can Coexist

Many sentences have both, and then the order is fixed: in the third person the direct object comes first, so it's je le lui donne, never je lui le donne.

Ce livre ? Je le leur ai déjà prêté.

That book? I've already lent it to them.

le / la / les before lui / leur.

Common Mistakes with Indirect Objects

Incorrect: Je le téléphone ce soir. — I'll phone him tonight.

Correct: Je lui téléphone ce soir. — I'll phone him tonight.

Téléphoner takes à before a person, so the pronoun has to be indirect. English says phone him with no preposition, which is exactly what makes this error so common.

Incorrect: Je leur ai parlés hier. — I spoke to them yesterday.

Correct: Je leur ai parlé hier. — I spoke to them yesterday.

Only a preceding direct object triggers participle agreement. Leur is indirect, so the participle stays bare no matter how many people it refers to.

Incorrect: Je lui pense souvent. — I think about him often.

Correct: Je pense souvent à lui. — I think about him often.

Penser à is one of the verbs that refuses the lui pronoun. The preposition stays put and the person appears after it in the stressed form.

Incorrect: Je leurs ai donné les clés. — I gave them the keys.

Correct: Je leur ai donné les clés. — I gave them the keys.

The pronoun leur is invariable and never takes an s. Leurs with an s is the possessive adjective, as in leurs valises, their suitcases.

Where the Pattern Bends

One list of verbs to learn and two exceptions that keep the stressed pronoun instead.

The verbs that take à before a person

This is a closed list worth memorising, because English gives you no warning. All of them replace the person with lui or leur.

Je lui parle chaque jour.: I talk to him every day.
Il ne leur a rien dit.: He didn't tell them anything.
Elle lui a menti.: She lied to him.
Ce chapeau leur appartient.: That hat belongs to them.

Parler, dire, demander, répondre, téléphoner, écrire, donner, offrir, envoyer, montrer, promettre, mentir, obéir, plaire, ressembler, appartenir and manquer are the core set.

The verbs that keep à plus a stressed pronoun

A small group of verbs takes à but refuses the lui pronoun. With these, the preposition stays and the person becomes moi, toi, lui, elle, eux or elles.

Je pense souvent à elle.: I often think about her.
Il tient beaucoup à toi.: He cares about you a lot.
Elle s'intéresse à eux.: She's interested in them.
Fais attention à lui.: Watch out for him.

Penser à, tenir à, s'intéresser à, faire attention à, s'habituer à and rêver à all behave this way, and the difference from parler à is purely conventional.

Combining an indirect object with en or y

When an indirect object pronoun meets en or y, it comes first, and me and te elide. The resulting clusters are short and easy to miss when listening.

Il m'en a parlé hier.: He told me about it yesterday.
Je lui en ai envoyé deux.: I sent him two of them.
On leur en a proposé un autre.: We offered them another one.
Je vous y retrouve à midi.: I'll meet you there at noon.

En and y always come last in the sequence, and y precedes en in the rare cases where both appear: il y en a.

Indirect Objects FAQs

What are the indirect object pronouns in French?: Me, te, lui, nous, vous and leur. Lui means to him or to her, and leur means to them. They replace a person introduced by à: j'écris à ma tante becomes je lui écris.
How do I know if a French verb takes an indirect object?: Build a sentence with a name and see whether you need à. Parler à Marie and répondre à Marie take à, so they use lui. Voir Marie and connaître Marie don't, so they use la. The preposition belongs to the verb and often doesn't match English.
What's the difference between lui as an indirect object and lui meaning him?: Position and role. Before a verb, lui is the indirect object pronoun and means to him or to her: je lui parle. After a preposition or standing alone, lui is the stressed pronoun for a man: avec lui, c'est lui. Only the second one is gendered.
Why is there no agreement with leur in Je leur ai écrit?: Because participle agreement is triggered only by a direct object placed in front of the verb. Leur is indirect, so nothing changes. Compare je les ai vus, where les is direct and the participle takes an s.
When do I use y instead of lui?: When the à leads to a thing, a place or an idea rather than a person: je pense à mon travail becomes j'y pense. Lui and leur are reserved for people, so je réponds à la lettre becomes j'y réponds, not je lui réponds.