Hi Faithandrews,
They are just another set of pronouns, sometimes called emphatic pronouns.
You might remember them more easily as the ones used after chez ...
Hope this helps !
Just like in English we have 'I' and 'me' (but note, only 'you'), French uses these so-called singular Stress Pronouns.
| Subject Pronoun | Stress Pronoun |
| je I |
moi me |
| tu you |
toi you |
| il he |
lui him |
| elle she |
elle her |
Note : elle is the same in both.
Simple uses of Stress pronouns
- extra emphasis
Note that in English, you would usually use intonation to mark emphasis.
- single word responses
- very simple sentences
See also the plural stress pronouns: Nous, vous, eux, elles = us, you, them (stress pronouns)
and the more advanced lesson Moi, toi, lui, elle, nous, vous, eux, elles (advanced stress pronouns)
Learn more about these related French grammar topics
Examples and resources
Q&A Forum 7 questions, 13 answers
FaithandrewsKwiziq community member
Honestly, I did not really understand exactly you meant by '' stress pronouns''? Please throw more light on the meaning and use of stress pronouns.
Asked 1 year ago
Faithandrews asked:View original
Honestly, I did not really understand exactly you meant by '' stress pronouns''? Please throw more light on the meaning and use of stress pronouns.
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FaithandrewsKwiziq community member
So there are different sets of object pronouns with different role and each have their gender roles or object roles? WOW...FRENCH JUST GOT EASIER.....
Asked 1 year ago
Faithandrews asked:View original
So there are different sets of object pronouns with different role and each have their gender roles or object roles? WOW...FRENCH JUST GOT EASIER.....
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HalouiKwiziq Q&A regular contributor
Why?
Why "mais elle,elle veut ..." not" mais elle veut ..."
Asked 1 year ago
Just to reinforce. It's purely stylistic not grammatical.
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Hi Malik,
These stress pronouns are also used after prepositions like 'et'.
So also after words like
sur, à, avec, pour, après, contre, and of course chez .
Après moi le déluge = When I'm gone let happen what may
Je n'ai rien contre eux = I have nothing against them
On vient avec toi = We are coming with you
C'est à toi de jouer = It's your turn to play
Je n'ai pas mon agenda sur moi = I don't have my diary on me
lui, il a de la chance! = He is so, so lucky !
I find a good way to learn them is after chez, which students seem to grasp easily:
Chez moi, chez toi, chez elle, chez lui, chez nous, chez vous, chez eux, chez elles
P.S. "Et toi, comment tu vas? " or "comment vas-tu ?" are both correct.
Hope this helps!
Chris Kwiziq Q&A super contributor
Hi Malik,
First off it would be "Et toi..." and then I must say that I've only ever heard "Comment vas-tu?" or "Tu vas comment?".
-- Chris (not a native speaker)
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Hi Rachel,
There are different sets of pronouns in French . Fortunately the 'nous' and 'vous' pronouns tend to remain the same in all of them!
These stress pronouns are the ones which come after prepositions too , so I find that a good way to learn them is after the 'chez' ( at the home of) .
Chez moi, chez toi, chez elle, chez lui, chez nous, chez vous, chez eux, chez elles.
Hope this helps!
LauraKwiziq team member
Bonjour Rachel,
While most stress pronouns are similar to object pronouns, there's one big difference: the indirect object pronoun lui is both masculine and feminine, while for stress pronouns, there is a separate feminine form: elle.
RachelKwiziq community member
Hi Laura, yes, I see that these are a separate set of pronouns from the Direct Object and Indirect Object sets. My question was more based on the usage; basically, when I would use these vs using the object pronouns. I think I've gotten them straight now, to some extent. :)
Thanks!
RachelKwiziq community member
Hi Celcile,
Thanks! I see that they are a different set from the object pronouns - I was curious more so about the usage; in other words, when to use these vs when to use object pronouns. But your explanation about the prepositions in very helpful in explaining the difference.
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DukeKwiziq community member
Please explain "Il lui (verbe)"
Bonjour! I'm trying to improve my French through reading, and I've encountered a problem that I don't think was covered in my lessons. I keep seeing the following structure used in a sentence: "Il lui (verbe)." For example: "Il lui manque la montié d'une oreille et ses yeux sont... ." I unferstand this sentence to mean "He is missing half of an ear, and his eyes are... ." My problem is that I can't figure out why such sentences are using "Il lui (verbe)" instead of just "Il (verbe)." Another example is "Il lui arrive même de nous faire cadeau d'un rat." Could you please explain (1) is "lui" is being used as a stress pronoun in this case? And (2) why is it being used at all? Marci! -Duke
Asked 2 years ago
"Lui" is the indirect object of "il"
That said, let's look at the two sentences you cite (and I am taking the liberty of abbreviating them a bit):
1) Il lui manque une oreille -- He is missing an ear. Literally this would be translated as: "It is an ear missing from him". The "from him" is the indirect object, hence "lui".
2) Il lui arrive de nous faire un cadeau. -- He happens to make us a present. Literally: It happened to him to make us a gift. Again the "to him" is the indirect object, i.e., "lui" in French.
Yes, "lui" could also be the stress pronoun but not in these cases. Stress pronouns usually are at the end of sentences or following prepositions. Neither is the case here.
I suggest you check out the lessons on indirect objects.
Greetings,
-- Chris.
DukeKwiziq community member
OK, so I wasn't terribly far off from my first guess, which was that the "lui" specified that it was "his" ear that he was missing, and not just a random ear. I only thought it might be a stressed pronoun because I could see the sentence also meaning, "Concerning him, HE was... ."
Hmmm...very interesting. I thought I understood indirect objects, but I didn't realize that was what this was, because in English we often omit them in cases like this. Ex: "He was missing half an ear" versus "he was missing half of one of his ears." Thanks! I think I need to become more accustomed to typical French structure!
Chris Kwiziq Q&A super contributor
Duke, even in the sentence "He was missing half of one of his ears" there is no indirect object in the English sentence. There is the subject (he) the verb (was missing) and the direct object (half of one of his ears). The "his" is a posessive pronoun.
-- Chris.
Duke asked:View original
Please explain "Il lui (verbe)"
Bonjour! I'm trying to improve my French through reading, and I've encountered a problem that I don't think was covered in my lessons. I keep seeing the following structure used in a sentence: "Il lui (verbe)." For example: "Il lui manque la montié d'une oreille et ses yeux sont... ." I unferstand this sentence to mean "He is missing half of an ear, and his eyes are... ." My problem is that I can't figure out why such sentences are using "Il lui (verbe)" instead of just "Il (verbe)." Another example is "Il lui arrive même de nous faire cadeau d'un rat." Could you please explain (1) is "lui" is being used as a stress pronoun in this case? And (2) why is it being used at all? Marci! -Duke
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WillKwiziq community member
Why would I use a stress pronoun?
I can see on the lesson about plural stress pronouns that this would be for simple sentences or one word responses. But are there other situations?
Asked 2 years ago
Bonjour Will,
En réponse à votre question, voici un phrase d'explication de la leçon en ce qui concerne pronoms de stress avancé:
Notice that stress pronouns are used in the following 3 cases:
- in sentences, after prepositions (de, à, avec, derrière, pour etc),
- in comparisons, after que (plus/moins/aussi ....que),
- with the restriction ne... que (only), after que.
Comme on le voit, il y a plusieurs d'occasions d'utiliser des pronoms de stress.
Bien sûr, j'espère que cela vous aiderait.
Bonne chance et bonne continuation dans vos études de la langage française, la «Langue de Molière».
Ron
Will asked:View original
Why would I use a stress pronoun?
I can see on the lesson about plural stress pronouns that this would be for simple sentences or one word responses. But are there other situations?
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