Shrink it to a pronoun
le, la, les for the catcher; lui, leur for the bridge
Once you know who the catcher is, you can shrink it into a tiny word that jumps in front of the verb. A COD becomes le, la, l' or les. 'Je vois Paul' becomes 'Je le vois'. 'Je mange la pomme' becomes 'Je la mange'.
A COI (a person reached through à) becomes lui (one person) or leur (several people). 'Je parle à Paul' becomes 'Je lui parle'. Watch out for verbs that take à in French but not in English: téléphoner à, demander à, répondre à, plaire à.
Examples
Je la mange.I eat it (the apple).la = COD, feminine
Je les regarde.I watch them.les = COD plural
Je lui parle.I speak to him / her.lui = COI, one person
Je leur téléphone.I call them.leur = COI, several people
Bridge check
Before choosing, ask: does the verb use à before the person? Yes → lui / leur. No → le / la / les.
Practice (sample)
Replace the underlined part with the right pronoun
- Je regarde la télé. → Je ______ regarde.
la / lui / lesAnswer
la. regarder has no bridge: COD, feminine singular → la. - Elle parle à ses parents. → Elle ______ parle.
les / leur / luiAnswer
leur. parler à: COI. Several people → leur. - Tu téléphones à Marc. → Tu ______ téléphones.
le / lui / leurAnswer
lui. téléphoner à takes the bridge. One person → lui. - Nous aimons nos voisins. → Nous ______ aimons.
les / leur / luiAnswer
les. aimer has no bridge: COD plural → les. - Je vois mon frère. → Je ______ vois.
le / lui / leurAnswer
le. voir has no bridge: COD, masculine singular → le. - Il écoute la radio. → Il ______ écoute.
la / l' / luiAnswer
l'. la squeezes to l' before a vowel: il l'écoute.
The online game draws fresh questions from a bank of 16, in two levels.