French Stressed Pronouns – Disjunctive Pronouns

Stressed pronouns – Use them to add emphasis

Use French stressed pronouns to add emphasis to what you want to say.  Use these pronouns when you want to change the tone of your voice (as we do in English).  You can place them either at the beginning or at the end of a sentence. Have a look at my comprehensive video lesson at the bottom of this page.

French Disjunctive / Stress Pronouns – Lesson Guide

English	French	Example
me	moi	Moi, je parle français. Je parle français, moi.
you	toi	Toi, tu parles français? Tu parles français, toi?
him	lui	Lui, il parle français. Il parle français, lui.
her	elle	Elle, elle parle français. Elle parle français, elle?
us	nous	Nous, nous parlons français. Nous parlons français, nous.
you	vous	Vous, vous parlez français? Vous parlez français, vous?
them (masculine)	eux	Eux, ils parlent français? Ils parlent français, eux?
them (feminine)	elles	Elles, elles parlent français. Elles parlent français, elles?

Stressed pronouns – Use them after prepositions or prepositions of location

Careful:  You won’t use disjunctive pronouns with À + A PERSON because that would require an indirect object pronoun.  Many times POUR + A PERSON will also require an indirect object pronoun if something is actually being done for that person.

moi	avec – with	avec moi – with me
toi	pour – for	pour toi – for you
lui	chez – at the home of	chez lui – at his house
elle	avant – before	avant elle – before her
nous	devant – in front of	devant nous – in front of us
vous	après – after	après vous – after you
eux	derrière – behind	derrière eux – behind them
elles	à côté de – next to	à côté d’elles – next to them

Stressed pronouns – Emphasize who is doing something

When you want to say something like “I  am the one who is going to the store”, just use the following model.  You must be sure to make the verb agree with the stress / disjunctive pronoun being used.  Even though we don’t say it like this in English, here’s a direct translation.  It’s as if you were saying “It is me who am going to the store”.  Weird, huh? But that’s how you do it in French, and it makes sense.

English	French	Example
me	moi	C’est moi qui vais au magasin. I’m the one who is going to the store.
you	toi	C’est toi qui vas au magasin. You’re the one who is going to the store.
him	lui	C’est lui qui va au magasin. He’s the one who is going to the store.
her	elle	C’est elle qui va au magasin. She’s the one who is going to the store.
us	nous	C’est nous qui allons au magasin. We’re the ones who are going to the store.
you	vous	C’est vous qui allez au magasin. You’re the ones who are going to the store. (plural vous)
them (masculine)	eux	Ce sont eux qui vont au magasin. They’re the ones who are going to the store.
them (feminine)	elles	Ce sont elles qui vont au magasin. They’re the ones who are going to the store.

Stressed pronouns – Use them to say also or neither – either

English	French	Example
me too moi non plus	moi aussi me neither	Je vais au magasin, moi aussi. I’m also going to the store. Je ne vais pas au magasin, moi non plus. I’m not going to the store either.
you too you neither	toi aussi toi non plus	Tu vas au magasin, toi aussi. You’re also going to the store. Tu ne vas pas au magasin, toi non plus. You’re not going to the store either.
him too him either	lui aussi lui non plus	Il va au magasin, lui aussi. He’s also going to the store. Il ne va pas au magasin, lui non plus. He’s not going to the store either.
her too her either	elle aussi elle non plus	Elle va au magasin, elle aussi. She’s also going to the store. Elle ne va pas au magasin, elle non plus. She’s not going to the store either.
us too us either	nous aussi nous non plus	Nous allons au magasin, nous aussi. We’re also going to the store. Nous n’allons pas au magasin, nous non plus. We’re not going to the store either.
you too you either	vous aussi vous non plus	Vous allez au magasin, vous aussi. You’re also going to the store. Vous n’allez pas au magasin, vous non plus. You’re not going to the store either.
them too (masculine) them either (masculine)	eux aussi eux non plus	Ils vont au magasin, eux aussi. They’re also going to the store. Ils ne vont pas au magasin, eux non plus. They’re not going to the store either.
them too (feminine) them either (feminine)	elles aussi elles non plus	Elles vont au magasin, elles aussi. They’re also going to the store. Elles ne vont pas au magasin, elles non plus. They’re not going to the store either.

French Stress Pronouns – Disjunctive Pronouns Comprehensive Lesson

This is a complete lesson on how to use French disjunctive pronouns: MOI – TOI – LUI – ELLE – NOUS – VOUS – EUX – ELLES. In English these are: ME – YOU – HIM – HER – US – PLURAL YOU – THEM.

The first step is to watch my 13 minute video tutorial carefully and take notes. I’ve included a 7 page support guide so that you will have all of the examples used in the video written down for you. In the support guide document you will also find a link to a quizlet study set on French prepositions of location. These are often used with disjunctive pronouns.

You’ll then take an online quiz to practice what you’ve learned in the video tutorial. There are 50 questions with multiple choice answers.

Next, you’ll be able to download 50 cards to practice using French stress pronouns in three different ways. These cards closely resemble the online quiz, but they’re much more of a challenge since there are no multiple choice answers available. Also, the answer prompts aren’t always exactly they way you will have seen them in the multiple choice quiz. You can either practice with these cards online or print out a deck for those times when you don’t want to be stuck in front of your computer.

All of the cards have a question written on them. There are two blanks to fill in with your answers. One of the blanks requires a disjunctive pronoun, and the other requires you to change the verb conjugation to agree with the subject of the answer sentence. All of the cards are written in the present tense.

At last comes the real challenge and the true test to know when you’ve finally mastered French disjunctive pronouns. You’ll listen to an audio recording of me asking you the same 50 questions that you will have first seen in the multiple choice quiz, then you will have practiced using the challenge cards with answer prompts. This time you’ll write out your answers with no prompts at all on the student response sheet provided. Answer key is provided.

Verbs to be conjugated in present tense: être (10 cards), aller (14 cards), avoir (5 cards), faire (5 cards), regular -er verbs (12 cards), vouloir (1 card), partir (2 cards), prendre (1 card).

SAMPLE QUESTION:

Vous allez dîner chez nous demain?

RÉPONSE:

Oui, nous ___ dîner chez ___ demain.

Oui, nous allons dîner chez vous demain.

SAMPLE QUESTION:

C’est toi qui vas apporter le gâteau?

RÉPONSE:

Oui, c’est ___ qui ___ apporter le gâteau.

Oui, c’est moi qui vais apporter le gâteau.

SAMPLE QUESTION:

Tu ne vas pas à la piscine? Et Marc et Jules?

RÉPONSE:

___ non plus. Ils ne ___ pas à la piscine.

Eux non plus. Ils ne vont pas à la piscine.

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