French Sentence Structure – Double Pronouns

Sandrine put her headphones in her pocket. Sandrine a mis ses écouteurs dans sa poche.
Sandrine put them there.Elle les y a mis. 

Comparing French and English Sentence Structure

It can be interesting to look at French sentences and their English translations while comparing the two. Once you have identified corresponding words, you will realize how many similarities there are French and English. You’ll also notice some big differences, and those are worth examining more closely.




Sandrine = Subject


put = a mis

This part of the sentence is written in the passé composé. Mis is the past participle of the irregular verb mettre, and avoir is the helping verb.

Lesson:  Irregular verb mettre


her headphones = ses écouteurs

Ses is a plural possessive adjective which can mean his or her before a plural noun. Ses means her in this sentence because the subject is feminine.

Lesson: French possessive adjectives


in = dans

Lesson: French prepositions of location


her pocket = sa poche

Sa is a singular, feminine possessive adjective which can mean his or her before a singular, feminine noun. Sa means her in this sentence because the subject is feminine.


Second sentence with pronouns:

She – Elle

Elle is a subject pronoun that means she.

Lesson:  French subject pronouns


put = a mis

Lesson: Irregular verb mettre


them = les; there = y

Les is a direct object pronoun which replaces ses écouteurs. Y is an adverbial pronoun which replaces dans sa poche. In the passé composé, pronouns are placed before the helping verb. When using more than one verb in a sentence, you have to follow a strict order of placement.

Lesson: French direct object pronouns

Lesson: French pronoun Y

Lesson: French pronoun order




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