French grammar..please help!?

Question

I'm trying to review french grammar rules for direct object pronouns, but I don't understand what my textbook means. It says that past participles agree with PRECEDING direct objects, but in the example the direct object is not preceding, and it still agrees. I'm so confused!! Here is what it says:

"If there is a preceding direct object and there is a past participle, the past participle must agree with the object:
Ils ont vendu sa bibliotheque ---> Ils l'ont vendue. "
(emphasizing the l' and the e at the end of vendue).

Can anyone tell me what I am missing? Thank you so much!

I thought maybe it meant preceding direct object PRONOUN also, so perhaps the text made a mistake? I just wanted to check before I assumed the book was wrong...

Answer 1

I think your book says that the past participle (pp) agrees with the preceding direct object PRONOUN. So, because 'biblioteque' is feminine (la biblioteque) you have to make the pp feminine - venduE.

Perhaps this may help: 'I saw him' = 'Je l'ai vu'; 'I saw her' = 'Je l'ai vue'.

You're right - when you say the sentence in full, the direct object does not precede the verb; but when you use a direct object pronoun (it/him/her, etc.) then it always precedes the pp and the pp has to agree with it.

Answer 2

I'm not sure that I understand where's the problem lies, but in the mentioned example:
bibliotheque is feminine- you probably notice using "sa" rather than "son"-, so when you replace it with what's called "Le complement d'objet indicrect" you have to make sure that the past participle agrees with the replaced object- singular or plural, feminine or masculine-. And again since bibliotheque is feminine then you should add an "e" in the end of the past participle, while you add an "es" if it's feminine plural, and just "s" if it's masculine plural.
Hopefully you've found that helpful.