French with Ash · Grammar lab · A1–A2

What happened to son père?

This drill tackles one precise idea: in Marc explique la règle à son père, the pronoun lui replaces the whole indirect-object phrase à son père. Work from the idea to the word order, then test the nearby traps.

The 20-second rule

Ask “to whom?” If the answer is à + one person, replace that entire answer with lui.

Marc explique la règle à son père.

Marc lui explique la règle.

1 · Find ità son père answers “to whom?”

2 · Replace all of ità + son + père becomes lui.

3 · Move itlui normally goes before the verb.

Meaning check: lui means “to him” or “to her.” It tells us there is one person, but not that the person is a father. We recover “his father” from the earlier sentence or context.

Four rounds · 20 questions

Choose an answer for instant feedback.
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Your takeaway

If you can consistently identify the complete à + person phrase and place lui / leur before the verb, you own the core pattern. A miss in Round 3 or 4 simply shows which neighbouring pattern to revisit.

0 / 20 Start with Round 1 and build the pattern.

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