I speak of her
- « Previous question
- « Back to Q&A Forum
- Next question »
HarrisKwiziq community member
I speak of her
I'm confused why "I speak of her" is "Je parle d'elle" as my first instinct would be to say "je l'en parle". What am I missing here?
Thanks.
This question relates to:French lesson "Moi, toi, lui, elle, nous, vous, eux, elles (advanced stress pronouns)"
Asked 1 year ago
Hi harris,
The French verb "parler" can have two pieces of information attached to it: with whom you speak and what you speak of. For example:
Je parle à Marie de son travail. -- I speak with Marie about her work.
You can now proceed to substitute pronouns for each of the two parts and it would go like this:
Je lui en parle. -- I speak with her about it.
The topic you speek about is always "de + (topic)". If you speak about her then it is "d'elle". The person you speak with is always an indirect object in French: "parler À quelqu'un". Therefore it goes like this:
Je te parle -- I speak with you.
Je lui parle -- I speak with him (or her; only context would tell).
Je vous parle -- I speak with them (or you; in a formal setting)
"Je l'en parle" is definitely incorrect.
Greetings, -- Chris (not a native speaker).
The French verb "parler" can have two pieces of information attached to it: with whom you speak and what you speak of. For example:
Je parle à Marie de son travail. -- I speak with Marie about her work.
You can now proceed to substitute pronouns for each of the two parts and it would go like this:
Je lui en parle. -- I speak with her about it.
The topic you speek about is always "de + (topic)". If you speak about her then it is "d'elle". The person you speak with is always an indirect object in French: "parler À quelqu'un". Therefore it goes like this:
Je te parle -- I speak with you.
Je lui parle -- I speak with him (or her; only context would tell).
Je vous parle -- I speak with them (or you; in a formal setting)
"Je l'en parle" is definitely incorrect.
Greetings, -- Chris (not a native speaker).
Hi Joan,
Indeed,
"Je lui parle d'eux" is correct for "I speak with him about them"...
Chris Kwiziq Q&A super contributor
...sorry, just to correct a typo:
Je vous parle -- I speak with you (either a group or a formal "tu")
JoanKwiziq Q&A regular contributor
Hi Chris, if I want to say: "I speak with him about them", is it : "Je lui parle d'eux" ?
Thanks
Harris asked:View original
I speak of her
I'm confused why "I speak of her" is "Je parle d'elle" as my first instinct would be to say "je l'en parle". What am I missing here?
Thanks.
Don't have an account yet? Join today
Find your French level for FREE
Test your French to the CEFR standard
Find your French level >>