How to flip this sentence

Modesty O.A2Kwiziq community member

How to flip this sentence

So in this lesson, I was studying this sentence: “Pour calmer mes enfants, je leur lis une histoire.” I also remembered that lui/leur is only used when a verb goes with “à”, like “Je téléphone à mon frère” —> “Je lui téléphone.” So is this grammatically correct? “Pour calmer mes enfants, je leur lis une histoire.” —> “Je lis une histoire à mes enfants pour leur calmer.”


Asked 1 year ago
Maarten K.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor Correct answer

In your rewrite, the relevant verb for selection of the object pronoun to replace ‘mes enfants’ is ‘calmer’ not ‘lire à’. 

In the original it is ‘read something to someone’, (lire à….) whereas you have changed it to ‘read something (in order to do something) to someone’ (lire pour calmer…). 

It is the verb immediately following the object pronoun that determines whether a direct object or indirect object pronoun is needed.

So in your rewrite, it should be ‘…. pour les calmer’ - direct object pronoun, not ‘…. pour leur calmer’ - indirect object pronoun.

 https://www.wordreference.com/fren/lire

 https://www.wordreference.com/fren/calmer

 Position of French Object Pronouns - with infinitives

 Using le/la/l'/les = it/him/her/them (French Direct Object Pronouns)

N. B.A2Kwiziq community member

"I think it should be "Je is une histoire à mes enfants pour les calmer".

Not sure if my suggestion is correct but it's worth looking into it.

How to flip this sentence

So in this lesson, I was studying this sentence: “Pour calmer mes enfants, je leur lis une histoire.” I also remembered that lui/leur is only used when a verb goes with “à”, like “Je téléphone à mon frère” —> “Je lui téléphone.” So is this grammatically correct? “Pour calmer mes enfants, je leur lis une histoire.” —> “Je lis une histoire à mes enfants pour leur calmer.”


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