Learn French: Ce soir, le vice l'a emmené au casino. - Tonight, the vice took him to the casino.

In French, abstract nouns and general concepts like vice, amour (love), or courage (courage) require a definite article (le, la, or les). In English, we usually drop the article for these general concepts, but French almost always keeps it.

Why does the French sentence use emmené to mean "took" instead of pris?

The verb prendre (to take) is mostly used for picking up physical objects, taking a mode of transport, or consuming food. When you "take" a person or a pet somewhere, you use verbs like emmener (to take someone along with you) or amener (to bring someone to a place).

Where does the object pronoun l' go in the passé composé?

In compound tenses like the passé composé, object pronouns (like the l' meaning "him" here) are always placed immediately before the conjugated auxiliary verb (the helper verb). That's why it is l'a emmené (placed before a) and not a l'emmené.

Would the spelling of emmené change if "the vice took her" instead of him?