COD (Direct object)

When learning a language, one thing can sometimes seems insurmountable : getting to grip with the grammar and its “lingo”. And it is understandable, even though our mother tongue uses grammar, it always seems to be even harder when you are learning it in another language.

I must admit that in France, you learn grammar very early on. Although as a French teacher I find grammar and spelling incredibly interesting and appealing, it was not something that I always felt while learning it as a youngster. So I can totally emphasise with learners who might get scared at the mention of new terms and rules !

The COD, or Complement d’Objet Direct, better known for some as the direct object is one of these new terms which may sometimes scare certain learners. Do not threat though as the COD is not as scary as its name can make one believe.

What is the COD?

The COD is the part of the sentence which completes the verb, without using a preposition.

Ex: “Nous attendons notre frère“.

“Nous” is the “sujet”, “attendons” is the verb and “notre frère” is the COD.

Ex: Je mange des pommes.

“Je” is the “sujet”, “mange” is the verb and “des pommes” is the COD.

To help you make sure the word or group of words is a COD, you can ask the question “quoi?” (what?) or “qui?” (Who?).

Ex: Je mange des pommes. –> Je mange quoi? Des pommes.

Ex: “Nous attendons notre frère“. –> Nous attendons qui? Notre frère.

A COD can be a noun, a noun phrase, a verb, a pronoun and a subordonate but no matter its grammaticale role, it is always answering the same question : what or who.

Why knowing what a COD is?

You might think that this is a waste of time, that really you do not need to learn this to learn French. On the contrary, it is very important to fully be in command of the language.

Knowing the COD and the other elements of a sentence in French, as in other languages, is helpful to understand its structure. It will help avoid confusion or even misunderstanding when using the language. As you continue to learn French, it will open doors to understanding even more of this grammatical puzzle which you will learn to appreciate and master.

If you have any doubt on this subject or you feel grammar is not your forte, don’t forget that I offer private tuitions and that it would be my pleasure to help you. Just contact me at flairforfrench@gmail.com.