Mon oncle l’attend à la maison.

My uncle is waiting for her at home.

Breakdown of Mon oncle l’attend à la maison.

• mon: my (before a masculine singular noun)
• la maison: the house
• à: at
• l': her

Questions & Answers about Mon oncle l’attend à la maison.

What does l’ stand for here, and why is it before the verb?

It’s the direct object pronoun le or la (him, her, it), which elides to l’ before a vowel sound. In French, object pronouns normally come before the conjugated verb: Mon oncle l’attend.

How can I tell whether l’ means him, her, or it?

From context. Without context, l’ is ambiguous. Replace it with the noun to check: Mon oncle attend Paul (him), … attend Marie (her), … attend le colis (it). In the past, agreement can reveal gender: Il l’a attendue (feminine), Il l’a attendu (masculine).

Why not use lui instead of l’ with attendre?

Because attendre takes a direct object in French. Use direct pronouns (le/la/l’). Lui/leur are indirect (for verbs like parler à): Il lui parle (He talks to him), but Il l’attend (He is waiting for him).

How do I make this sentence negative?

Wrap the pronoun+verb cluster with ne … pas. Because ne is before a vowel, it elides: Mon oncle n’ l’attend pas à la maison → spelled correctly: Mon oncle ne l’attend pas à la maison.