La vs. le

Question

Asked to translate "Bernard sends it to her" I would have expected something like "Bernard le lui envoit". Instead, The answer given is "Bernard la lui envoit". Can you shed light on this?

Aurélie Drouard · Accepted Answer

Bonjour Claus !
In French, le, la, l' (it) and les (them) are used to replace objects.
The choice between le and la is depending on the gender of the prementioned object.
In this case, you were not given any clue as to what the object gender was (what was sent), therefore both "Bernard la lui envoie (e.g. la lettre)" or "Bernard le lui envoie (e.g. le colis) were possible answers.
We could have offered either, but we went with la.
I hope that's helpful.À bientôt !

Meghna J · Answer

Hi Aurélie

My understanding is that in French the default is masculine.
If defined male - le/il/ils would apply
If defined female - la/elle / elles would apply
If mixed/not specified  use male.

In this case for the question of Bernard sends it to her, wouldn't it be more logical to expect the 'le' response or both le and la in the test?