In short

Stressed (tonic) pronouns - moi, toi, lui, elle, nous, vous, eux, elles - refer to people but stand apart from the verb. Use them after prepositions (avec moi), for emphasis, and after c’est (c’est moi).

The rule

Subject pronouns (je, tu, il…) glue to the verb and cannot stand alone. When you need a pronoun that is not the subject glued to a verb - after a preposition, alone, or for stress - French uses a separate stressed form. English mostly uses one word (“me”, “him”) for all of these.

Each subject pronoun has a matching stressed form:

• je -> moi
• tu -> toi
• il -> lui
• elle -> elle
• nous -> nous
• vous -> vous
• ils -> eux
• elles -> elles

Note that elle, nous, vous, elles look the same as their subject forms; only moi, toi, lui, eux are new shapes.

After prepositions

A pronoun after a preposition is always the stressed form - never the subject form.

• chez + person: chez moi (at my place), chez eux (at their place)
• avec / sans: avec lui (with him), sans toi (without you)
• pour: C’est un cadeau pour elle. (a gift for her)
• de: Il parle de nous. (he’s talking about us)
• à (with certain verbs like penser à, tenir à): Je pense à toi. (I’m thinking of you)

Emphasis and c’est

Stressed pronouns spotlight a person. French cannot stress a subject pronoun by voice alone, so it adds a stressed pronoun:

• Doubling the subject: Moi, je préfère le thé. (Me, I prefer tea.)
• After c’est / ce sont: C’est moi. (It’s me.) C’est lui qui a payé. (He’s the one who paid.) Use ce sont with eux / elles: Ce sont eux.
• Alone as an answer: Qui veut du café? - Moi! (Who wants coffee? - Me!)
• In comparisons: Il est plus grand que moi. (He is taller than me.)
• With -même for “-self”: Je le fais moi-même. (I do it myself.)
• In compound subjects: Toi et moi, nous partons. (You and I are leaving.)

Forms & patterns

Reinforced “-self” forms (-même(s)):

Examples

Common mistakes

• avec je -> avec moi - after a preposition you must use the stressed form, never the subject form.
• chez il -> chez lui - il can never follow a preposition; the stressed form of il is lui.
• C’est je -> C’est moi - after c’est use the stressed pronoun.
• C’est eux -> Ce sont eux - in careful French, plural eux / elles takes ce sont.
• pour ils -> pour eux - the stressed form of ils is eux, not ils or leurs.
• plus grand que je -> plus grand que moi - after que in a comparison, use the stressed form.

Tips

• Only four forms are genuinely new: moi, toi, lui, eux. The rest (elle, nous, vous, elles) copy the subject form.
• Ask yourself: is the pronoun glued to a verb as its subject? If not (preposition, alone, after c’est, in a comparison), use the stressed form.
• lui is the stressed form for he/him; the feminine “her” stays elle.
• eux is masculine/mixed “them”; elles is all-feminine “them”.
• To say “myself, yourself…”, add -même(s) to the stressed pronoun: lui-même, eux-mêmes.
• Don’t confuse stressed lui (after prepositions) with object lui “to him/her” (Lesson 23) - same spelling, different job.