Learn French: Il a obéi, récompense-le !

Il a obéi, récompense-le !

He obeyed, reward him!

Breakdown of Il a obéi, récompense-le !

avoir

to have

him, it (masculine direct object pronoun)

obéir

to obey

Questions & Answers about Il a obéi, récompense-le !

Why does le come after the verb in récompense-le?

Normally, object pronouns come before the verb in French (like tu le récompenses). But in affirmative commands (when telling someone to do something), the pronoun moves to the end of the verb and is attached with a hyphen.

Why isn't there an "s" at the end of récompense? Isn't the tu form récompenses?

You are right that the normal present tense form is tu récompenses. However, for verbs ending in -er, you must drop the final s in the tu form of the imperative (the command form). Therefore, it becomes récompense-le !

How do we know le means "him" and not "it" here?

While le is often used to mean "it" when replacing a masculine noun, here it clearly refers back to Il (he) from the first half of the sentence. Since a person obeyed, you are being told to reward him.

How is the past tense formed in Il a obéi?

This is the passé composé. It uses the helping verb a (from avoir) and the past participle obéi. Because the infinitive is obéir (to obey), you form its past participle by simply dropping the final r, which is the standard rule for regular -ir verbs.