Les or l' when the plural direct obj. pronoun is before the past participle

I am wondering if you would use les or l' in a situation where the past participle begins with a vowel. For example: would it be je l'ai pris, or je les ai pris? I'm not sure if l'ai would be correct since it doesn't refer to the object's plural nature, but it's somehow uncomfortable with a les

0 members like this

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Vicky on October 22, 2010 at 4:01pm

You have to say ''Je les ai pris'' when you refer to something plural.
If you say ''Je l'ai pris'', it's singular.

The L' exist to facilitate the pronunciation. It's easier and prettier to say ''Je l'ai pris'' than ''Je le ai pris''. This is why the l' is there.
In the case of ''Je les ai pris'', you don't need the l' because 1) it's plural, not singular and 2) it's already easy to say thanks to the ''s'' in ''les''.
When you say ''Je les ai pris'', you pronunce it ''Je les (z)ai pris''. You use the ''s'' to make a liaison between both words to make it sound more natural.