I'm stuck with when 'lui' means he *or* she ...
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StuartKwiziq community member
I'm stuck with when 'lui' means he *or* she ...
... and times when lui only means he and I must use elle for she. 'I speak of her' in a recent test used 'elle', which I thought should have been 'lui..'
This question relates to:French lesson "Moi, toi, lui, elle, nous, vous, eux, elles (advanced stress pronouns)"
Asked 4 years ago

LauraKwiziq team member
Bonjour Stuart,
Lui is two different kinds of pronouns.
When it's a stressed pronoun, it only means him, because there's a feminine stressed pronoun: elle. Lesson: Moi, toi, lui, elle, nous, vous, eux, elles (advanced stress pronouns)
When it's an indirect object pronoun, it can mean him or her because there is no separate feminine pronoun. Lesson: Replacing people with lui, leur = him, her, them (indirect object pronouns)
In "I speak of her," her is the object of the pronoun of and therefore must be translated by the stressed pronoun elle, not the indirect object lui.
HelenKwiziq Q&A regular contributor
Laura--
I really appreciate your explanations. I came here because I'm trying to understand why lui is used in this sentence:
"Tu lui a fait confiance" (You trust him) Is this because faire is followed by à or any other reason?
Stuart asked:View original
I'm stuck with when 'lui' means he *or* she ...
... and times when lui only means he and I must use elle for she. 'I speak of her' in a recent test used 'elle', which I thought should have been 'lui..'
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