verb à "pronoun" vs pronoun + verb

MaggieB1Kwiziq community member

verb à "pronoun" vs pronoun + verb

I have a question about the following quiz question:

Elle pardonne à Paul et elle _________

The translation was "She forgives Paul and she forgives us"

The correct answer was "nous pardonne"

I am confused why the first part is "pardonne à Paul" but the second part has the pronoun in front of the verb, "nous pardonne". Is there a general rule to follow for this placement?

Asked 4 years ago
CécileKwiziq team memberCorrect answer

H Maggie 

Elle nous pardonne She forgives us

Il vous pardonne He forgives you

Elle me pardonne She forgives me 

If you take another look at the lesson you will see that it says that these indirect pronouns go before the verb.

In the case of -

Pardonner à quelqu'un = To forgive someone 

You don't need a pronoun so it will be a Christian name or a noun representing a person or persons  -

Il pardonne aux enfants = He forgives the children

Elle pardonne à Céline She forgives Céline

Nous pardonnons au docteur We forgive the doctor

etc.

Hope this helps!

ShreyA1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Bonjour Maggie !

The sentence you quote ->

“ Elle pardonne à Paul et elle nous pardonne.

Here, the first part of the sentence was just given to make the learners familiar with the expression-

Pardonner à quelqu’un - To forgive someone

And, accordingly, we had to use the indirect object pronoun in the second part. 

You could also say -

Il téléphone à John et ensuite il nous téléphone.

However, there is no such rule regarding this placement that one will use a noun in the first clause and pronoun in the second.

Hope that helps !

ChrisC1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

When you replace an actual name with a pronoun, the placement changes, and the pronoun goes before the verb.

Je pardonne à Paul. -- I forgive Paul
Je lui pardonne. -- I forgive him.

verb à "pronoun" vs pronoun + verb

I have a question about the following quiz question:

Elle pardonne à Paul et elle _________

The translation was "She forgives Paul and she forgives us"

The correct answer was "nous pardonne"

I am confused why the first part is "pardonne à Paul" but the second part has the pronoun in front of the verb, "nous pardonne". Is there a general rule to follow for this placement?

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