| 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.
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
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
One thought on “French Sentence Structure – Double Pronouns”
Comments are closed.