[fr] "elle/lui"

[tiff]

Feedback by a Russian user who wants to write in French:

Hello, I think I found a bug in the program.

In a phrase in French: Maman elle achète une coupée instead of elle it should be lui, because achete à sa fille.

And one more phrase: Patrick travaille avec elle (madame Lille)

Both sentences are marked correct, but they are mutually exclusive, that is, only one of these sentences can contain a stressed pronoun.

[udomai]

@vkyfox, about the first sentence – I think the user meant "poupée". But, most importantly, there would be nothing wrong if there was a comma: "Maman, elle achète une poupée". Mixing up "elle" and "lui" (subject and object pronoun) is not a common mistake. I don't even think this is a common L2 error.

About the second sentence: I can see nothing wrong with it except the lower case "madame". I do not understand why there should be any mutual exclusivity.

We can still draw something from this input:

1) A rule that finds strange instances like the above: [determiner] [adjective] [noun / proper noun] [subject pronoun] [finite verb form]

• [ ] Ma mère elle achète des livres. --> Ma mère, elle achète des livres. Or change the subject pronoun to an object pronoun (direct or indirect, depending on the verb...).

2) A rule that makes sure "madame", "mademoiselle", and "monsieur" (are there others? Maître etc.?) are only written in lower case if followed by a proper noun or UNKNOWN.

• [ ] Je vois madame Tesnière qui se balade avec son clébard. --> Madame