Je donne le livre à Paul.

I give the book to Paul.

Breakdown of Je donne le livre à Paul.

• je: I
• Paul: Paul
• le livre: the book
• à: to
• donner: to give

Questions & Answers about Je donne le livre à Paul.

Why is the word le used before livre?

In French, nouns almost always need articles (like le, la, or les) even when talking about specific objects in a general sense. Le is the masculine singular article that corresponds to livre.

Is there a specific reason why we say à Paul instead of just Paul?

Yes. À indicates that something is being given to a person. In French, prepositions are required to show the relationship between verbs and their indirect objects.

Could I reverse the word order to say Je donne à Paul le livre?

In French, you can sometimes place the indirect object before the direct object, so Je donne à Paul le livre is possible but slightly less common. The meaning stays the same, but the usual order is Je donne le livre à Paul.

Why do we use donne here instead of something like donnes?

Donne is the first-person singular form. In French, the verb changes endings depending on the subject. Je (I) takes donne, while tu (you, singular/informal) would take donnes.

How would I say I’m giving him the book using a pronoun?

You would say: Je le lui donne. Here le refers to the book and lui refers to to him. The direct object pronoun (le) goes before the indirect object pronoun (lui) in French.