Breakdown of Je vois le conseiller, et je me joins à lui pour le déjeuner.
je
I
et
and
pour
for
lui
him / to him / to her (indirect object)
le déjeuner
the lunch
voir
to see
le conseiller
the advisor
se joindre à
to join (a group, an activity)
Questions & Answers about Je vois le conseiller, et je me joins à lui pour le déjeuner.
Why do we say je me joins à lui instead of putting lui before the verb, like je me lui joins?
With most verbs, an indirect object pronoun goes before the verb (like je lui parle). However, reflexive verbs followed by à (like se joindre à) don't allow this when referring to people. Instead, you must keep the à after the verb and follow it with a stressed pronoun: à lui.
Is the lui in à lui the same indirect object pronoun used in je lui parle?
No, here lui is a stressed pronoun. It just happens to look identical to the masculine singular indirect object pronoun. You can tell it's a stressed pronoun because it directly follows a preposition (à). If the advisor were a woman, the indirect object pronoun would still be lui, but this sentence would change to use the feminine stressed pronoun: je me joins à elle.
Could I just use the verb rejoindre here instead of se joindre à?
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