How to Teach the French Imperative with Pronouns – A French Teacher’s Guide
The French imperative is used to give commands, orders, or express wishes. It is a very direct way to tell someone what to do, and students usually understand the basic idea fairly quickly.
What becomes more challenging is adding pronouns.
Once students have to decide whether the pronoun goes before or after the verb, remember that me and te change to moi and toi, and then deal with two pronouns together, the imperative can become much more complicated.
When I teach this topic, I first make sure students understand how the imperative is formed. Then I focus on the important distinction between affirmative and negative commands.
French Imperative With Pronouns Reference Guide – Foldable Handout Book
Scroll down to the section at the end of this post for more related teaching and practice resources.
Start with the basic imperative
Before adding pronouns, I review how the imperative is formed.
There are only three forms of the imperative:
- tu
- nous
- vous
I have students connect the imperative to the present tense. The imperative uses the present-tense forms, with the appropriate changes for the imperative.
CHOISIR
- Tu choisis – Choisis!
- Vous choisissez – Choisissez!
- Nous choisissons – Choisissons!
PRENDRE
- Tu prends – Prends!
- Vous prenez – Prenez!
- Nous prenons – Prenons!
I also make sure students know that certain tu forms drop the final s. This applies to verbs ending in -er, aller, and verbs like ouvrir.
- Tu parles – Parle!
- Tu vas – Va!
- Tu ouvres – Ouvre!
This becomes especially important later when students start adding pronouns.
Introduce the irregular imperative forms
I keep the irregular forms together so students know exactly which verbs they need to memorize.
The four irregular verbs in the imperative are:
- être: sois, soyons, soyez
- avoir: aie, ayons, ayez
- savoir: sache, sachons, sachez
- vouloir: veuille, veuillons, veuillez
I remind students that the imperative only uses the tu, nous, and vous forms because the imperative is used for commands or requests.
Introduce pronouns
This is where I slow things down.
I ask students a simple question:
Is the command affirmative or negative?
That decision determines where the pronoun goes.
With an affirmative command, the pronoun goes after the verb and is connected to it with a hyphen.
- Écrivez-lui!
- Dépêche-toi!
- Lisez-la, s’il vous plaît.
- Achetons-les!
- Donnons-leur de l’argent.
- Mettez-le sur mon bureau.
- Écoute-moi!
I point out that me and te become moi and toi in affirmative commands.
So students see:
Écoute-moi!
Dépêche-toi!
rather than using the forms they are used to seeing before the verb.
Spend extra time on the tu form
The spelling change in the tu form becomes important when pronouns are added.
The verbs that normally drop the final s in the tu imperative keep that pattern with most pronouns.
Achète-le!
Regarde-le!
But there is an important exception with y and en.
The s is kept before y and en:
Achètes-en!
Regardes-y!
This is a small detail, but I make sure students see it separately because it is easy to miss when they are concentrating on pronoun placement.
Contrast affirmative and negative commands
Once students are comfortable putting one pronoun after an affirmative command, I introduce negative commands.
This gives them a very clear contrast:
Affirmative: pronoun after the verb
Negative: pronoun before the verb
Faites-le!
Ne le faites pas!
Manges-en!
N’en mange pas!
Dis-lui!
Ne lui dis pas!
Laissez-les!
Ne les laissez pas!
I tell students to think of the negative command as returning to the pronoun placement they already know. The pronoun goes before the verb, just as it does outside the imperative.
Introduce double object pronouns
Once students understand one pronoun, I move on to two.
This is where I tell students that affirmative commands have a different pronoun order.
With affirmative commands, the pronouns are attached to the end of the verb with hyphens, and me and te become moi and toi.
Passe-le-moi!
Donnons-le-leur!
Dites-le-lui!
Mets-les-y!
I have students pay close attention to the order rather than trying to translate the sentence word for word.
The examples make the pattern easier to see:
Passe-le-moi!
Donnons-le-leur!
Dites-le-lui!
Mets-les-y!
I also introduce the special forms m’ and t’ before en:
Va-t’en!
This gives students another example of why affirmative commands need to be treated separately from the pronoun order they have already learned.
Return to negative commands
After practicing affirmative commands with two pronouns, I switch back to negative commands.
Here, the pronouns go before the verb and return to the normal pronoun order.
Ne me le prends pas!
Ne le leur donnons pas!
Ne me l’apportez pas!
This is a useful point to emphasize because students now have two different systems to keep straight:
Affirmative command:
verb + pronouns
Negative command:
pronouns + verb
I have students compare the two forms rather than practicing them separately for too long.
Make students identify the type of command first
At this point, I don’t want students immediately trying to build the entire sentence.
I have them ask themselves:
Is it affirmative or negative?
Then:
How many pronouns are there?
Then they can decide where the pronouns belong.
For an affirmative command, they place the pronouns after the verb and connect them with hyphens.
For a negative command, they place the pronouns before the verb.
This gives students a simple process to follow instead of asking them to remember everything at once.
Mix affirmative and negative commands in practice
Once students have practiced each pattern, I mix them together.
I might give them commands like:
Écrivez-lui!
Ne le faites pas!
Dépêche-toi!
N’en mange pas!
Passe-le-moi!
Ne me le prends pas!
The goal is to make students recognize the structure rather than simply repeat a pattern they have just seen.
I also like to include tu, nous, and vous commands so that students have to pay attention to the form of the verb as well as the pronoun placement.
Finish by reviewing the patterns
By the end of the lesson, I want students to have a few clear rules they can remember.
The imperative has only three forms: tu, nous, and vous.
For affirmative commands, pronouns go after the verb and are connected with hyphens.
Écoute-moi!
For affirmative commands, me = moi and te = toi, except before en and y.
Passe-le-moi!
Va-t’en!
For negative commands, pronouns go before the verb.
Ne le faites pas!
With double pronouns, affirmative and negative commands use different orders, so students need to treat them as two separate patterns.
That’s the part I want students to become comfortable with before expecting them to use the imperative naturally in conversation or writing.
Practice the French Imperative with Pronouns
If you’re teaching the French imperative and want ready-to-use practice for affirmative and negative commands, pronoun placement, and double object pronouns, I have resources designed to give students practice with these patterns.
French Imperative With Pronouns Reference Guide – Foldable Handout Book
French Imperative with Pronouns – Comprehensive Lesson Plan
French Imperative With Pronouns – French Grammar Activity
