Learn French: Le patron veut cette copie. Imprime-la-lui ! - The boss wants this copy. Print it for him!

Le patron veut cette copie. Imprime-la-lui !

The boss wants this copy. Print it for him!

Breakdown of Le patron veut cette copie. Imprime-la-lui !

lui

him / to him / to her (indirect object)

Questions & Answers about Le patron veut cette copie. Imprime-la-lui !

Why is it Imprime-la-lui and not Imprime-lui-la?

In affirmative commands (when you tell someone to do something), the direct object pronoun like le, la, or les always comes before the indirect object pronoun like lui, leur, moi, or toi. Therefore, 'print it for him' must follow the pattern verb-it-him, making it Imprime-la-lui.

How do we know to use la and lui here?

la (it) is the direct object replacing cette copie, which is a feminine noun. lui (for him) is the indirect object replacing le patron (the boss).

Why are there two hyphens in Imprime-la-lui?

In French affirmative commands, the pronouns move after the verb and must be attached with hyphens. When there are two pronouns, you connect all three parts together: verb-pronoun-pronoun.

Since this is a command to 'you' (singular), why doesn't imprime have an 's' at the end?

Imprimer is a regular -er verb. For all -er verbs (and a few others like aller), you drop the final 's' in the tu command form. So Tu imprimes becomes just Imprime !