French object pronouns: le, la, les and lui
You are picking up a bag and some keys, and talking to Marie. Learn to refer to these known things and this person without repeating their names: a short pronoun goes between je and the present-tense verb in these statements.
Start with familiar words
Le sac is the bag (masculine); la clé is the key (feminine), and les clés means the keys. Prendre means take, and je prends means I take or I'll take when making a choice; parler means talk, and je parle means I talk or I'm talking. These are present-tense forms with the subject je, I, as in the earlier phrases je prends and je parle. Listen to the words, then use them in the short exchanges below.
A known object: le, la or les
Read and listen to each pair: first name the object, then replace the entire noun group with a pronoun. Le sac becomes le, la clé becomes la, and les clés becomes les: Je prends la clé → Je la prends (I'll take the key → I'll take it). French chooses le for a masculine singular noun and la for a feminine singular noun, even though English uses it for both; les refers to known plural objects of either gender. Here the order is je + pronoun + verb: Je le prends, whereas English puts it after take. The le, la and les before a noun are articles; the same spellings before prends replace the noun group and are pronouns. These examples refer to particular objects we can identify, rather than an unspecified quantity.
Je prends le sac.
Je le prends.
Je prends la clé.
Je la prends.
Je prends les clés.
Je les prends.
The person you talk to: lui
Parler à Marie means talk to Marie: à introduces the person being addressed. To avoid repeating her name, replace the whole group à Marie with lui: Je parle à Marie → Je lui parle (I'm talking to Marie → I'm talking to her). Lui comes before parle, without another à, and does not distinguish a male from a female addressee. English keeps to her after talking; French uses this short pronoun before the verb. This choice follows the French construction parler à someone: do not treat lui as a replacement for every person or every phrase with à.
Je parle à Marie.
Je lui parle.
Recognize two pronouns without producing them yet
In Je le lui donne (I give it to her), le refers to the bag and lui to Marie; donne comes from donner, to give. You can hear two short pronouns together before the verb. For now, just recognize the meaning: their combinations are not part of the practice here. Keep your own answers to one pronoun at a time, using prends or parle.
Je le lui donne.
Your turn: keep the reference clear
Before reading or listening to each answer, say the shortened sentence for each situation. First you are taking le sac; then la clé; then les clés: replace the named object, keeping je and prends. Finally you are talking to Marie: replace à Marie, keeping je and parle. The four examples give the answers in that order. You can repeat this with a visible bag or key; identify the object first so that your listener knows what the pronoun refers to.
Je le prends.
Je la prends.
Je les prends.
Je lui parle.
One known reference, one short pronoun
Read the chart as a reminder, not as an audio exercise. With these present-tense statements, put le, la, les or lui before the verb: Je les prends; Je lui parle. Keep je as the subject, and choose the pronoun from the French noun or verb construction, rather than translating English word order.