Аннотация:Abstract This chapter investigates the repertoire and the uses of referring expressions in natural dialogues of 28 French-speaking children, aged between 1;7 and 2;6 years old. We focus on three strong forms (nouns, strong demonstrative pronouns and strong personal pronouns) and three weak forms (clitic personal pronouns, null forms and fillers). Their uses are analyzed for the following factors: the linguistic development, the type of referent (participants vs. entities), the syntactic function, and the attentional and discursive status of the referent. The results reveal contrasted uses of referring expressions. Nouns are mainly used for new or reintroduced referents, generally in syntactic functions other than subject, whereas clitic personal pronouns (as well as the other weak forms) are mainly used for given referents and always as subjects. The type of referent (entities vs. participants) also influences the use of referring expressions. The discussion addresses the issue of the intertwining of morphological, syntactic and pragmatic development.