Hello everyone,

(First of all I want to introduce myself - I am Sean and I'm currently studying French. I love the language and hope to live in France in the not too distant future. I look forward to using this forum and speaking to you all!)

My question...

I've been learning about direct, indirect and reflexive object pronouns and something struck me about the phrase "I love her/I love him".

Using the logic I have learnt I am forming this phrase as follows:

Je le + aime = Je l'aime (I love him), and

Je la + aime = Je l'aime (I love her).

Given that when you construct these expressions both the male and female form create the same expression when you allow for the l', I'm wondering how the French distinguish between whether you are saying you love him or her. Obviously in some contexts this will be obvious, but it in others it is likely there will be some ambiguity. If the phrase was the title of a book for example.

Is there something in the actual verb 'aime' that changes depending on whether it is masculine or feminine to remove ambiguity or is it left to the listener to imply the gender based on context?

I hope this makes sense.

Sean