Learn French: Je prends le jouet et je le range. - I take the toy and I put it away.

Je prends le jouet et je le range.

I take the toy and I put it away.

Breakdown of Je prends le jouet et je le range.

and

prendre

to have (a meal/drink) / to take

ranger

to tidy / to put away

Questions & Answers about Je prends le jouet et je le range.

Why is the second le placed before range?

In French, direct object pronouns like le (meaning "it") go directly before the verb they belong to. Instead of saying "I put away it", French speakers say je le range (literally "I it put away").

What exactly does the second le replace in this sentence?

It replaces le jouet (the toy) so we don't have to say "I take the toy and I put the toy away". Because jouet is a masculine singular noun, we use the masculine singular pronoun le to mean "it".

Wait, doesn't le usually mean "the"?

It does! In the first half of the sentence, le jouet means "the toy". But le is also a pronoun meaning "it" or "him". You can tell the difference by looking at what follows it: if it comes before a noun like jouet, it means "the". If it comes before a verb like range, it is the pronoun "it".

Why does prends end with an "s" if the subject is je?

Prendre (to take) is an irregular verb. While regular "-er" verbs don't usually end in "s" for the je form, the conjugation for this specific verb is je prends.

Does always mean "to put away"?