French 2 Quiz: Pronouns With Commands
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Pronouns With CommandsQuestion 1 of 10

Situation : Un chef de cuisine explique à un apprenti comment préparer une sauce. Il lui donne une série d'instructions.

Le chef veut dire à l'apprenti : « Ne nous prépare pas cette sauce maintenant. » En remplaçant 'cette sauce' par le pronom approprié, quelle phrase est correcte ?

Ne la nous prépare pas maintenant.
Ne nous la prépare pas maintenant.
Ne nous prépare la pas maintenant.
Ne nous prépare pas la maintenant.
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French 2 Quiz

French 2 Quiz: Pronouns With Commands

Practice Pronouns With Commands in French 2 with focused quiz questions that help you check what you know, review explanations, and build confidence with test-style prompts.

What this quiz covers

This quiz focuses on Pronouns With Commands, giving you a quick way to practice the rules, question types, and explanations that matter most for French 2.

How to use this quiz

Try each quiz question before looking at the correct answer. Use the explanations to review missed ideas, then come back to similar questions until the pattern feels familiar.

All questions

Question 1

Situation : Un chef de cuisine explique à un apprenti comment préparer une sauce. Il lui donne une série d'instructions.

Le chef veut dire à l'apprenti : « Ne nous prépare pas cette sauce maintenant. » En remplaçant 'cette sauce' par le pronom approprié, quelle phrase est correcte ?

  1. Ne la nous prépare pas maintenant.
  2. Ne nous la prépare pas maintenant. (correct answer)
  3. Ne nous prépare la pas maintenant.
  4. Ne nous prépare pas la maintenant.
Explanation: When French verbs take two object pronouns at once, their order is fixed by strict rules — and in negative imperative constructions, those pronouns still travel together as a unit, sandwiched between ne and pas. The standard order for double object pronouns in French is: indirect object → direct object when the indirect object is a first or second person pronoun (me, te, nous, vous). Here, nous is the indirect object (to us) and la replaces cette sauce as the direct object (it). So the correct cluster is nous la, giving you Ne nous la prépare pas maintenant — answer B. The ne comes first, then both pronouns together, then the verb, then pas. That's your correct answer. Looking at the wrong choices: A reverses the pronoun order to la nous, which violates the rule — direct before indirect is only used when both pronouns are third person (e.g., le lui, la leur). Since nous is first person, it must come before la. C splits the pronouns apart by inserting them around the verb (prépare la), which is never grammatically acceptable — pronouns must stay together as a block before the verb. D places la after pas, outside the ne...pas frame entirely, which is completely wrong; object pronouns always precede the verb, never follow pas. A helpful memory trick: in negative imperatives, think of the structure as ne + [pronoun block] + verb + pas. The pronouns are glued together and glued to the front of the verb — nothing breaks that bond.

Question 2

Contexte : Deux amis discutent. L'un dit à l'autre d'y aller (to go there) et d'y rester (to stay there).

Votre ami veut donner deux ordres affirmatifs à la suite : « Va là-bas et reste là-bas. » En utilisant 'y' pour remplacer 'là-bas' dans les deux cas, quelle option est correcte ?

  1. Vas-y et reste-y.
  2. Va-y et reste-y.
  3. Y va et y reste.
  4. Vas-y et restes-y. (correct answer)
Explanation: When using the pronoun y in affirmative commands (l'impératif affirmatif), two spelling rules collide, and mastering both is the key to this question. First, the rule about "vas": the verb aller in the tu-form imperative is normally va (no -s). However, when it's followed directly by the pronoun y, you must add a liaison -s: vas-y. This extra -s exists purely for phonetic smoothness — without it, saying "va-y" would feel awkward to pronounce. So vas-y is the correct spelling for "go there." Second, the rule about "restes": with rester, the standard tu-imperative is reste (no -s). But here's the same phonetic rule: when any -er verb imperative is followed by y (or en), you add an -s for liaison purposes. So restes-y is correct, not reste-y. This makes D) Vas-y et restes-y the correct answer. Looking at the wrong choices: A) Vas-y et reste-y gets the first verb right but fails to add the required liaison -s to reste before y — a very common oversight. B) Va-y et reste-y is doubly wrong: it drops the liaison -s on both verbs. C) Y va et y reste places y before the verb, which is only allowed in negative commands or with infinitives — never in affirmative imperatives. Study tip: Whenever an -er verb imperative (including aller → va) is followed by y or en, always add that liaison -s. Think of it as a "smoothing rule" — affirmative imperative + y/en = add -s.

Question 3

Un parent dit à son enfant de ne pas lui mentir (to lie to him). Lequel des énoncés suivants exprime correctement un ordre négatif avec le pronom indirect approprié ?

  1. Mens-me pas.
  2. Ne me mentez pas.
  3. Ne mens pas me.
  4. Ne me mens pas. (correct answer)
Explanation: When forming a negative imperative (an order telling someone not to do something) in French, you need to master two things simultaneously: the placement of ne...pas around the conjugated verb, and the placement of indirect object pronouns. In a negative imperative, the indirect object pronoun stays directly before the verb, sandwiched inside the negation: Ne + pronoun + verb + pas. Here, the parent is speaking to one child ("tu" form), and "lui mentir" means lying to him/her, so "me" is the indirect object pronoun (the parent refers to himself as the recipient). The verb "mentir" in the tu imperative is simply mens. Putting it all together: Ne me mens pas — making D the correct answer. Looking at why the others fail: A ("Mens-me pas") completely ignores the "ne...pas" negation structure and incorrectly places the pronoun after the verb with a hyphen — that hyphenated placement only applies in affirmative imperatives. B ("Ne me mentez pas") uses the correct structure and pronoun placement, but "mentez" is the vous form, which would be used for multiple children or formal address — not one child. C ("Ne mens pas me") breaks the rule entirely by placing the pronoun after "pas," which is never correct in French negation; the pronoun must come before the verb, not after the negation. A useful tip: memorize the negative imperative formula as Ne + [pronoun] + [verb] + pas — think of the pronoun as "hugging" the verb from the left, always staying inside the ne...pas sandwich.

Question 4

Marie parle à son petit frère qui a oublié ses devoirs chez un ami. Elle lui donne des instructions.

Marie veut dire à son frère d'aller chercher ses devoirs chez l'ami. Quelle phrase utilise correctement un pronom avec un impératif affirmatif ?

  1. Va les chercher chez lui tout de suite ! (correct answer)
  2. Les va chercher chez lui tout de suite !
  3. Va les chercher chez le tout de suite !
  4. Va chercher les chez lui tout de suite !
Explanation: When using pronouns with affirmative commands in French, word order is everything. The rule is: verb first, then the pronoun(s) after, connected by a hyphen. This is the opposite of regular sentences, where pronouns come before the verb. Keep this reversal in mind whenever you see an imperative with a pronoun. In this sentence, Marie wants to tell her brother to "go get his homework at his friend's place." The verb is va (go), the direct object pronoun replacing les devoirs is les, and the stress pronoun replacing chez l'ami is lui. The correct structure is: Va + les + chercher + chez lui — verb first, pronoun directly after, then the infinitive. That's exactly what A gives you: Va les chercher chez lui tout de suite ! — making A the correct answer. B fails because les is placed before the verb (Les va chercher...), which would only work in a negative command or a regular statement — never an affirmative imperative. C uses le instead of lui — but lui is required after prepositions like chez (you need a stress pronoun, not a direct object pronoun). D puts les after the infinitive chercher (Va chercher les...), breaking the rule that the pronoun must immediately follow the conjugated imperative verb, not float later in the phrase. A handy tip: in affirmative imperatives, think "verb pulls the pronoun like a magnet" — the pronoun snaps directly onto the verb that's giving the command, never before it and never separated by another word.

Question 5

Un professeur dit à un étudiant de ne pas lui envoyer le rapport par e-mail. Laquelle des phrases suivantes exprime correctement cet ordre négatif avec les pronoms appropriés ?

  1. Ne me l'envoie pas par e-mail. (correct answer)
  2. Ne l'envoie pas me par e-mail.
  3. Ne me envoie pas le par e-mail.
  4. Ne m'envoie pas le par e-mail.
Explanation: When a French sentence involves both a direct object pronoun and an indirect object pronoun attached to the same verb, word order is everything — and negative commands add another layer of structure to master. In French, negative commands follow this pattern: Ne + [indirect object pronoun] + [direct object pronoun] + verb + pas. Here, "me" is the indirect object (to me) and "le" is the direct object (the report). When "me" comes before a vowel or in certain contractions, it stays as "me" in full — but importantly, the indirect object pronoun always comes before the direct object pronoun. Choice A, "Ne me l'envoie pas", is correct. Notice that "le" contracts to "l'" before "envoie" (a vowel sound), giving us "me l'." The pronoun order is right (indirect before direct), the negation wraps correctly around the pronouns and verb, and the contraction is properly applied. Choice B, "Ne l'envoie pas me", places "me" after the verb and "pas," which is grammatically impossible — pronouns in French commands must appear before the verb, not after. Choice C, "Ne me envoie pas le", makes two errors: "me" should contract to "m'" before a vowel ("envoie"), and "le" must appear before the verb, not after "pas." Choice D, "Ne m'envoie pas le", gets the contraction right ("m'") but incorrectly places "le" after "pas" instead of before the verb alongside "m'." A quick tip: memorize the pronoun order formula — me/te/nous/vous before le/la/les — and remember that in negative commands, all object pronouns stay sandwiched between "ne" and the verb.

Question 6

Contexte : Un ami vous demande de lui parler de votre problème. Vous acceptez et vous lui donnez l'instruction de vous parler du problème.

Vous voulez dire à votre ami : « Parle-moi du problème. » Votre ami vous demande si « en » peut remplacer « du problème ». Quelle est la forme correcte de l'impératif affirmatif avec les deux pronoms ?

  1. Parle-m'en. (correct answer)
  2. Parle-moi-en.
  3. M'en parle.
  4. En parle-moi.
Explanation: When combining two pronouns at the imperative affirmative, French follows a strict word order rule: the verb comes first, then the indirect object pronoun, then en or y. However, there's a crucial spelling adjustment: when moi appears directly before en, it contracts to m' to avoid a vowel clash, giving you the form m'en. So starting from "Parle-moi du problème," you replace "du problème" with en and apply the contraction rule: Parle + moi + en → Parle-m'en. This makes option A the correct answer. Option B, Parle-moi-en, keeps "moi" intact before "en," which is a common and tempting error. The contraction moi → m' before a vowel sound is mandatory in this construction — you can't keep the full form. Option C, M'en parle, places the pronouns before the verb, which is the rule for negative imperatives (Ne m'en parle pas) or regular conjugations — not affirmative imperatives, where pronouns always follow the verb with a hyphen. Option D, En parle-moi, reverses the required order entirely. The pronoun en must always come last after the indirect object pronoun, never before it. A handy tip: for affirmative imperatives with en or y, remember the order Verb – (indirect object pronoun) – en/y, and always check whether moi or toi needs to contract. Moi → m' and toi → t' before en or y are the two contractions to memorize — they appear frequently on exams.

Question 7

Considérez la phrase impérative suivante : « Donnez-le-leur. » Un étudiant veut transformer cette phrase en commande négative. Quelle transformation est correcte ?

  1. Ne le leur donnez pas. (correct answer)
  2. Ne leur le donnez pas.
  3. Ne le donnez pas leur.
  4. Ne donnez pas le leur.
Explanation: When dealing with object pronouns in French imperative sentences, the rules shift depending on whether the command is affirmative or negative — and this is exactly what this question tests. In an affirmative imperative like "Donnez-le-leur," the pronouns follow the verb with hyphens, ordered as: verb → direct object (le/la/les) → indirect object (lui/leur). However, in a negative imperative, the pronouns return to their normal pre-verb position, following standard French pronoun order: indirect object comes after direct object only in affirmative commands. In negative commands, the standard order applies: indirect object pronouns (lui, leur) come before direct object pronouns... wait — actually, the standard pre-verb order is: me/te/se/nous/vous → le/la/les → lui/leur. So the direct object "le" precedes the indirect object "leur," giving you: Ne le leur donnez pas. That makes A) "Ne le leur donnez pas" correct. Choice B ("Ne leur le donnez pas") reverses the correct pronoun order, placing the indirect object "leur" before the direct object "le" — which violates French pronoun ordering rules in negative constructions. Choice C ("Ne le donnez pas leur") incorrectly places "leur" after "pas," as if still in affirmative imperative structure, which is grammatically wrong. Choice D ("Ne donnez pas le leur") treats "le leur" as a possessive pronoun (meaning "theirs"), completely changing the sentence's meaning and structure. A useful memory aid: in negative imperatives, think of pronouns as "returning home" to their standard pre-verb positions — and in that home, le/la/les always come before lui/leur.

Question 8

Situation : Votre colocataire vous demande si vous avez besoin qu'il achète du lait. Vous lui répondez affirmativement et lui donnez un ordre.

Vous voulez lui dire d'acheter du lait (en utilisant « en »). Quelle phrase est correcte à l'impératif affirmatif ?

  1. En achète, s'il te plaît.
  2. Achète-en, s'il te plaît.
  3. Achètes-en, s'il te plaît. (correct answer)
  4. Achète en, s'il te plaît.
Explanation: Whenever you see a question combining the imperative mood with the pronoun en, two grammar rules collide, and you need to apply both correctly. In French, en is a pronoun that replaces a quantity or partitive noun (here, du lait). In affirmative imperative sentences, object pronouns must be placed after the verb, attached with a hyphen — unlike in negative commands, where they precede the verb. So the structure is: verb + hyphen + en. There's a second rule that makes this tricky: when -er verbs are used in the affirmative imperative with a pronoun that follows (like en or y), you must add an -s to the tu form to make pronunciation smoother. Normally, the tu imperative of acheter drops the -s (achète), but when followed by en, it becomes achètes-en. This is why C) Achètes-en, s'il te plaît is correct. Looking at the wrong answers: A) places en before the verb, which is only correct in negative imperatives (N'en achète pas) — never in affirmative ones. B) has the right word order and hyphen, but drops the required -s before en, making it phonetically awkward and grammatically incorrect in this context. D) has the right word order but is missing the hyphen, which is mandatory when a pronoun follows an imperative verb. A handy tip: remember the phrase "-s before en/y in affirmative imperative" — if the verb ends in -e and the next word is en or y, always restore that -s.

Question 9

Laquelle des phrases suivantes contient une erreur dans le placement du pronom avec l'impératif ?

  1. Montre-la-lui dès que possible.
  2. Ne la lui montre pas dès que possible.
  3. Ne lui la montre pas dès que possible. (correct answer)
  4. Montre-la-lui avant de partir.
Explanation: When using object pronouns with the imperative in French, the word order rules change depending on whether the sentence is affirmative or negative — and this is exactly what this question tests. In affirmative imperatives, pronouns follow the verb and are connected by hyphens. The order is: verb → direct object pronoun → indirect object pronoun. So "Montre-la-lui" is correct: la (direct) comes before lui (indirect). This is the reverse of the normal pre-verb pronoun order. In negative imperatives, pronouns return to their standard pre-verb position, and the normal order applies: indirect object pronoun → direct object pronoun — wait, actually no. The standard French pronoun order places direct before indirect for third-person pronouns: la lui, not lui la. So the correct negative form is "Ne la lui montre pas." This makes C the sentence containing an error: "Ne lui la montre pas" incorrectly places lui before la in a negative imperative. The correct order, even in the negative, keeps la (direct) before lui (indirect). A ("Montre-la-lui") is correct — affirmative imperative with proper hyphenated order. B ("Ne la lui montre pas") is correct — negative imperative with proper pronoun order, la before lui. D ("Montre-la-lui avant de partir") is also correct — same structure as A with a different time phrase. A useful memory trick: in affirmative imperatives, direct comes before indirect AND pronouns follow the verb. In negative imperatives, pronouns precede the verb and maintain that same direct-before-indirect order for le/la/les + lui/leur.

Question 10

Un étudiant essaie de transformer la phrase « Parlez-leur-en demain » en une commande négative. Il propose quatre versions. Laquelle est correcte ?

  1. Ne en leur parlez pas demain.
  2. Ne leur en parlez pas demain. (correct answer)
  3. Ne leur parlez pas en demain.
  4. Ne parlez pas leur en demain.
Explanation: When a French imperative sentence contains two object pronouns, their order follows a strict rule: indirect object (lui/leur) comes before the partitive/adverbial pronoun (en) in affirmative commands. The critical skill here is knowing how that order changes — or rather, doesn't change — when you make the command negative. In an affirmative command like "Parlez-leur-en," the pronouns follow the verb with hyphens. To make any imperative negative, you simply wrap ne...pas around the entire verb-pronoun block, and the pronouns shift back to their pre-verb position (just as in regular conjugated sentences). The correct order before the verb mirrors standard sentence pronoun order: leur en. This gives you "Ne leur en parlez pas demain" — which is answer B, the correct choice. Looking at the wrong answers: A ("Ne en leur parlez pas") reverses the pronoun order, incorrectly placing en before leur. Remember, en always comes last among object pronouns. C ("Ne leur parlez pas en demain") breaks the pronouns apart, leaving en stranded after pas as if it were a separate adverb — pronouns must stay together immediately before the verb. D ("Ne parlez pas leur en demain") places both pronouns after the verb, which is only acceptable in affirmative imperatives, not negative ones. A handy tip: think of the negative imperative as "sandwiching" the pronouns between ne and the verb, always keeping leur before en. If you can memorize the order me/te/lui/leur → y → en, you'll never mix up pronoun sequences again.