Position of object pronouns with infinitives

J'écoute le prof. -- I listen to the teacher.

J'écoute de la musique. -- I listen to music.

But never: j'écoute à....
Consequently no lui/leur.

-- Chris. (not a native speaker).

Bonjour Lewis et Chris !

Indeed the verb écouter in French takes a direct object:



In "écouter de la musique", the "de" isn't a preposition, but the partitive article [de la = some] used with uncountable nouns (you can't say une musique, deux musiques...).

I hope that's helpful!
À bientôt !

Bonjour Christine,

It's a question of indirect vs direct objects.

In French, the verb téléphoner requires the preposition à: Je vais téléphoner à mes parents. The preposition makes mes parents the indirect object, so it has to be replaced with the indirect object pronoun leur.

In comparison, the verb détester does not need a preposition: Tu détestes entendre tes parents, so tes parents is the direct object and is replaced by the direct object pronoun les.

Here are some lessons you might find helpful:

Direct objects

Indirect objects

Many thanks, I think I will have to spend some time getting my head round this concept!
Christine

Hi Christine -- Spanish has very similar constructions. I find it helpful to think of it as "to", as in "I gave the book to her". You then just have to adjust to each verb because many don't need "to" in French where they do in English - and vice versa.

Eg. "I listen to my parents" becomes "I listen my parents" in French.
"I'll phone you" becomes "I'll phone to you".

Then the direct/indirect object pronouns fall into place without having to think further.

It's a simplification and doesn't ALWAYS work, but as you get to know which verbs do or don't take "à", it's generally a good mental shortcut.

I hope that helps! Charles.

Thanks - that could be the light bulb moment for me!

Thanks - that could be the light bulb moment for me!

Bonjour Yellamaraju,

J'aime l'écouter is correct. There are a few French verbs where the preposition required in English is in a sense built into the French verb.

Écouter means "to listen to," regarder means "to look at," chercher means "to look for," etc. So even though we need a preposition in English, we don't in French.