The DIRECT and INDIRECT OBJECT, also known as COD and COI in French, are two important parts of a sentence. In a sentence, the object is the part that completes the meaning of the sentence, in addition to the subject and the verb.
The difference in between COD and COI
A reminder of the sentence structure is necessary. A sentence is composed of three elements: the subject, the verb, and the object. For example, in the sentence “Je parle français.”, “français” is the object.
In French, there are two types of objects: the Complément d’Objet Direct (COD) and the Complément d’Objet Indirect (COI). To understand both of them, let’s examine the following examples:
| Direct Object(Complément d’objet direct) | Indirect Object(Complément d’objet indirect) |
| Jean appelle Sophie | Jean téléphone à Sophie |
These two sentences have the same meaning, which is that Jean is trying to contact Sophie by phone. In the first sentence, “Sophie” is a direct object complement, while in the second sentence, “Sophie” is an indirect object complement.
A simple rule
The basic rule is simple: if there is a preposition “à” between the verb and the object, then the object is called an indirect object complement (COI). If there is no preposition between the verb and the object, then the object is a direct object complement (COD).
Let’s take some additional examples to better understand:
| Sophie donne le cadeau. (Sophie gives the gift.) | Sophie donne à Jean. (Sophie gives to Jean) |
| Vous connaissez Charlotte Lebon ? (Do you know Charlotte Lebon ?) | Vous parlez à Charlotte Lebon ? (Do you speak to Charlotte Lebon ?) |
In the first two examples, “le cadeau” is the object, but it is a COD in the first sentence and a COI in the second sentence. In the last two examples, “Charlotte Lebon” is the object, but it is a COD in the first sentence and a COI in the second sentence.
So, indirect object complements are always followed by a preposition, while there is no preposition for direct object complements.
Now that you understand the difference between COD and COI, you may be wondering how it works with pronouns. Don’t worry, our next article will cover personal pronouns COD and COI such as le, la, l’ & les & lui leur. Stay tuned!