Word
Vous devez vous adresser à lui personnellement.
Meaning
You must speak to him personally.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Vous devez vous adresser à lui personnellement.
vous
you (plural/formal)
lui
him / to him / to her (indirect object)
devoir
to have to / must
personnellement
personally
Questions & Answers about Vous devez vous adresser à lui personnellement.
Why do we use à lui here instead of putting the indirect object pronoun lui before the verb?
Usually, "to him" translates to the indirect pronoun lui placed before the verb (like je lui parle). However, s'adresser is a reflexive verb, indicated by the pronoun vous. In French, you cannot put an indirect object pronoun directly before a reflexive verb. Instead, you must keep the preposition à after the verb and use a stressed pronoun like lui, elle, or eux.
Why is there a second vous before adresser, and why isn't it placed before devez?
The first vous is the subject ("You"), and the second vous is the reflexive pronoun belonging to the infinitive s'adresser. Even when a reflexive verb is in the infinitive because it follows a conjugated verb like devez, its reflexive pronoun must still match the subject. This pronoun always stays directly in front of its own infinitive verb.
What is the difference between using s'adresser à and parler à in this context?
Why is the adverb placed at the very end of the sentence?