French Grammar Explained /

Direct object pronouns

What if we had to talk like this:
I bought a boat. I painted the boat. I named the boat "Tornado". I
sailed the boat. Eventually I sold the boat and bought a bigger boat.
We just said the boat way too many times! Luckily we can avoid unnecessary repetition like this with (object) pronouns:
I bought a boat. I painted it. I named it "Tornado". I
sailed it. Eventually I sold it and bought a bigger boat.
The object pronouns in French are le, la, & les, the same as the definite articles (the).
Je mange le pain.
Je le mange.
Je mange la carotte.
Je la mange.
Je mange les fraises.
Je les mange.
Negation
When negating, put the ne... pas around the object and verb like this:
Je ne mange pas le pain.
Je ne le mange pas.
Je ne mange pas la carotte.
Je ne la mange pas.
Je ne mange pas les fraises.
Je ne les mange pas.
Watch out! The object pronouns are placed directly before the verb.
Compare to English:
I (don't) eat bread.
I (don't) eat it.
I (don't) eat carrot.
I (don't) eat it.
I (don't) eat strawberries.
I (don't) eat them.