"Go see Paul; he will explain it to you better than me."

Translation: Va voir Paul, il te l'expliquera mieux que moi.

[SimonPowel9]

Question: why does "te" precede "le" in this example, whereas in others the "le" comes after "lui". Seems inconsistent to me. Is there a rule, or is it just like that? I see others before me have commented on the "reversal of the pronouns" issue, but I don't see that anyone has explained what is going on here. As usual, DL leave you to work that out for yourself.

[InvertedGo]

There is a standard order of pronouns. Then there is a separate order for imperative sentences (note: negated imperative sentences revert back to the standard order again).

Here's a link:
https://www.lawlessfrench.com/grammar/double-pronoun-order/

[InvertedGo]

And "le" never comes after "lui".

[Roman.Vasyliev]

va voir Paul il vous l'expliquera mieux que moi - why VOUS is wrong?

[Paul950310]

The imperative is conjugated wrong for vous. You need to use allez instead of va.

[HelenBeck2]

why te l' instead of le te . Could someone explain please.

[HelenBeck2]

Can you explain why it is te le instead of le te

[Abel355]

I thought that the verb " vas" should remain same "vas" in imperative, not become "va"

[NieNieNieNie]

It's "va" except in "vas-y".

[FeisGal1]

The extra "s" is just for pronunciation in the expression "vas-y."

[Abel355]

Merci NieNie

[BoSwicegood]

I am confused. I thought it was simply je vais, tu vas, il va, etc.

[BarbaraSti2]

In the imperative, (like giving an order) one doors not use the s in the -er verbs
"Mon fils, tu donnes le cadeau.". "Mon fils, donne le cadeau!"

[PeterWhite3]

I'm finding this section difficult to get right. What am I saying here "Va voir Paul il le lui expliquera mieux que moi" which is how I translated it?

[NieNieNieNie]

What you are saying here is "Go see Paul; he will explain it to him/her better than me".

• il te le dit = he's saying it to you
• il le lui dit = he's saying it to him/her

And yes it seems the pronouns positions are reversed, I'd never realized that before.

[PeterWhite3]

Thank you. it's the seeming reversal of the pronouns that's been adding to my confusion.

[Christina296883]

Better than I...

[SimricYarr]

I'm not quite clear why it's "mieux" and "meilleur" is not allowed. I'd thought meilleur was used for comparison and mieux for "best" but it's obviously not that simple.

[BrianBoru4]

Because mieux is an adverb, so qualifies a verb, whereas meilleur is an adjective.

[ivornovello]

Go and see Paul; he will explain it to you better than I (can.) is the English translation of the Duolingo dialect

[BrianBoru4]

If you do choose to add 'can' then it has to be 'I' as it's then the subject of a verb. If you omit 'can' it reverts to being a simple comparative phrase requiring the appropriate first person object pronoun which is, correctly, 'me'.

[gill369]

Why such a silly, affected-sounding voice?

[BarbaraSti2]

That would be voyez voir Paul. But I'm wondering about the dropping of the S - vas voir Paul. I thought the s is dropped only in -er verbs?

[Hilbo6]

i understand that Go see is American English. In Scotland we would say Go and see. But I am wondering if va voir is actually French and not just a literal translation of American English

[BoSwicegood]

In American English, we say go and see much more often than go see; however, either is acceptable.

[nicolas143699]

"Allez voir Paul ; il t'expliquera mieux que moi" Duo, what is wrong with this?

[BarbaraSti2]

You left out the "it'. He will explain you is what you said

[PeterWhite3]

I believe that using Allez Voir Paul you need to say .. il vous l'expliquera ..