Learn French: Mon ordinateur est fragile, tu dois me le rendre demain. - My computer is fragile, you must give it back to me tomorrow.

Mon ordinateur est fragile, tu dois me le rendre demain.

My computer is fragile, you must give it back to me tomorrow.

Breakdown of Mon ordinateur est fragile, tu dois me le rendre demain.

être

to be

you (informal singular)

Questions & Answers about Mon ordinateur est fragile, tu dois me le rendre demain.

Why is the order me le instead of le me?

In French double pronoun structures, 1st and 2nd person object pronouns (like me, te, nous, vous) always come before 3rd person direct object pronouns (like le, la, les). You can think of it as generally putting the person before the object.

Why are the pronouns me le placed before rendre and not before dois?

When you have a conjugated verb followed by an infinitive (here, dois + rendre), the pronouns go right before the infinitive they actually belong to. Because you are "giving back" the computer, the pronouns go directly in front of rendre.

Wait, doesn't rendre mean "to make"? Why does it mean "give back" here?

The verb rendre only translates to "to make" when it is followed by an adjective (like in ça me rend triste - it makes me sad). When talking about a physical object, rendre means "to give back" or "to return" something to its owner.

Could I shorten le to l' here?