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How to use direct and indirect object pronouns in Spanish?

By: Irati de Nicolás Saiz Fri Aug 30 2024
Spanish
Pronouns

Direct and indirect object pronouns are used to replace the direct object or indirect object of a sentence. While in English direct and indirect pronouns are used after the verb (I ate it), in Spanish they are usually placed before the conjugated verb (Lo comí). However, this is not always the case, especially when these pronouns are with other forms of verbs. In these cases, the object pronoun is placed after the verbal form (comerlo). Let’s see what direct and indirect objects are, which pronouns can be used for these functions, and finally how they are placed!

Table of Contents

    What is a direct/indirect object?

    A direct object is the noun or noun phrase that is directly acted upon by the verb, and the indirect object is the recipient or goal of that action. Let’s take a look at these examples:

    Ana describe un cuadro.

    Ana describes a picture.

    Ana describe a sus hijos.

    Ana describes her children.

    In the examples above, un cuadro and (a) sus hijos are the answers to the questions “what?” and “who(m),” respectively. (What does Ana describe? / Who(m) does Ana describe?). They are called “direct objects.”

    Let’s take a look at this example now:

    Ana describe un cuadro a sus hijos.

    Ana describes a picture to her children.

    In this example, we see a new element, a sus hijos (to her children). This element answers the question, “to who(m)?” and is called an “indirect object.” In fact, indirect objects answer the questions, “to who(m)” or “for who(m).”

    Did you know? You see a sus hijos in both examples. Please don’t get confused by the use of “a”: in the first case, it is used because it precedes a direct object that is a person (this is a rule in Spanish) but in the second example it precedes an indirect object. The translations help to clear things up: when “a” precedes a direct object, it is not translated into English; when placed before an indirect object, it is usually translated as “to.”

    Which are the direct and indirect object pronouns?

    Together, the direct object pronouns and indirect object pronouns are me, te, nos, os, lo, la, los, las, le, and les. These pronouns are used to replace direct and indirect objects. For example:

    Ana describe el cuadro. Ana lo describe.

    Ana describes the picture. Ana describes it.

    For the direct and indirect object pronouns that correspond to yo (I), and vos (you – informal), nosotros and nosotras (we), vosotros and vosotras (you all) — which, by the way, is only used in Spain — you don’t need to get a headache remembering these grammar terms, because you just use the same pronoun for the direct and the indirect object:

    Pronoun Type

    yo ("I")
    tú, vos ("you")
    nosotros, nosotras ("we")
    vosotros, vosotras ("you all")

    Direct object

    me
    te
    nos
    os

    Indirect object

    me
    te
    nos
    os

    English object pronouns

    me

    you

    us

    you all

    Nos invitó a su fiesta de cumpleaños.

    He invited us to his birthday party.

    Me regaló un libro.

    He gave a book to me.

    On the other hand, for the pronouns that correspond to él (he), ella (she), ellos (they – masculine), ellas (they – feminine) (either person or object), or to usted, ustedes (you – singular, formal) or (you all – formal) you use different words:

    Pronoun Type

    él (he)

    ella (she)

    usted (you)

    ellos (they)

    ellas (they)

    ustedes (you all)

    Direct object

    lo
    la
    lo/la
    los
    las
    los/las

    Indirect object

    le
    les

    English object pronouns

    him / her / it

    you

    them

    you

    Be careful! Direct object pronouns must agree in gender and number with the nouns they are replacing. In the following example, el pastel is the direct object of the sentence and it is a masculine singular noun, that is why the pronoun we need to use is lo.

    ¿Cocinaste el pastel?

    Did you cook the cake?

    Si, lo cociné.

    Yes, I cooked it.

    Now, let’s look at the example below: the noun las cartas is the direct object in this sentence, this noun is feminine plural, thus, we should use the pronoun las.

    ¿Enviaste las cartas?

    –Did you send the letters?

    Sí, las envié.

    Yes, I sent them.

    Need a refresher on how to tell the gender of Spanish nouns? How about, how to form the plural in Spanish? Look no further, we have posts for that!

    Indirect object pronouns, on the other hand, only agree in number with the nouns they refer to since there are only two forms and no distinction between masculine and feminine. In the examples below, we use the indirect object pronoun to replace “your mother” and “your father” and as you can see, we use the pronoun le in both cases.

    ¿Compraste el regalo a tu madre?

    Did you buy the present for your mother?

    Sí, le compré el regalo.

    Yes, I bought the present for her.

    ¿Diste el regalo a tu padre?

    Did you give the present to your father?

    Sí, le di el regalo.

    Yes, I gave the present to him.

    Now, let’s see how to place these pronouns in sentences.

    Where do you place direct and indirect object pronouns in a sentence?

    Direct and indirect object pronouns are always placed before the conjugated verb in simple tenses – except the positive imperative – and perfect tenses (those with haber + past participle):

    Direct object:

    – ¿Has cocinado el pastel? → –No lo he cocinado todavía.

    – Did you bake the cake? –I haven't baked it yet.

    Indirect Object:

    Juan me escribió una carta
    Juan wrote a letter to me.

    What happens when both the direct object pronoun and the indirect object pronoun are used in the same sentence? The indirect object pronoun always goes before the direct object pronoun. Take a look at the examples below:

    indirect object pronoundirect object pronounverb

    te la envié

    I sent it to you

    indirect object pronoundirect object pronounverb

    me los dieron

    they gave them to me

    What is ‘se’?

    Se is another form of an indirect object pronoun. When the indirect object pronouns le and les are combined with the direct object pronoun lo, la, los or las, the indirect object pronouns change to se:

    • direct objectindirect object

      ¿Mostraste el libro a María?

      Did you show the book to Maria?

    • direct object pronounindirect object pronounverb

      Se le lo mostré.

      I showed it to her.

    Or in another example:

    • direct objectindirect object

      ¿Mostraste el libro a los estudiantes?

      Did you show the book to the students?

    • direct object pronounindirect object pronounverb

      Se les lo mostré.

      I showed it to them.

    As you can see, le and les become se, thus in the examples above, se refers to María (feminine singular) or to los estudiantes (masculine plural). Check out this strategy to remember this rule!

    Pronouns with imperatives, infinitives, and gerunds

    With positive imperatives, infinitives, and gerunds, the direct and indirect object pronouns are placed after the verb. They attach to the verb, forming one single word:

    Pronoun Type

    Positive imperative

    Infinitive

    Gerund

    Direct object

    comecómelo
    comecómerlo
    comiendocomiéndolo

    Eat!

    Eat it!

    to eat

    to eat it

    eating

    eating it

    Indirect object

    escribeescríbeme
    escribirescribirme
    escribiendoescribiéndome

    Write!

    Write to me!

    to write

    to write to me

    writing

    writing to me

    What happens if we combine the direct and indirect object pronouns with these verb forms? As above, we maintain the same order: indirect object + direct object (and the se instead of le/les rule is also maintained):

    Pronoun Type

    Positive imperative

    Infinitive

    Gerund

    compra
    comprar
    comprando

    Direct object

    cómpralo
    cómprarlo
    comprándolo

    Indirect object

    cómprale
    comprarle
    comprándole

    Indirect object

    +

    Direct object

    cómpraselocómpramelo
    comprárselocomprármelo
    comprándoselocomprándomelo

    As you may have observed, some verb forms have an accent mark when combined with these pronouns.

    Pronouns with verb combinations

    At times, object pronouns will be used alongside verb combinations. Verb combinations combine a conjugated verb and a non-conjugated verb. Some examples of verb combinations in Spanish are:

    • Ir a + infinitive (going to):

      voy a comer

      I am going to eat.

    • Tener que + infinitive (have to):

      tengo que trabajar

      I have to work.

    • Estar + gerund (to be + -ing verb):

      estoy cantando

      I am singing.

    When these forms are used with a direct/indirect object pronoun, we have two options:

    • We can put the pronoun(s) before the conjugated verb:

      Te lo voy a cocinar.
      I am going to bake it for you.
      Se lo tengo que enviar.
      I have to send this to her/him/you.
      Se lo estoy llevando.
      I am taking it to you.
    • Or, we can attach it to the non-conjugated verbs:

      Voy a cocinártelo
      I am going to bake it for you.
      Tengo que enviársela.
      I have to send this to her/him/you.
      Estoy llevándoselo
      I am taking it to you.

    Recall that we always maintain the same order: Indirect pronoun + direct pronoun. And do not forget se!

    Summary

    To sum up what we’ve seen, in Spanish we always place the indirect object pronoun before the direct object pronoun. In addition, both are always placed before the conjugated verb. Although with positive imperatives, infinitives, and gerunds, pronouns are attached to the word, creating one single word. We also saw that with some verb combinations, we can either place the pronouns before the conjugated verb or attach them to the non-conjugated verb of the verb combination. Also, remember that when le or les and a 3rd person direct object pronoun appear together, le(s) change to se. See the examples below for a brief summary of all the cases we mentioned in this post!

    • Placement with simple and perfect tenses:

      –¿Compraste el libro?
      –Did you buy the book?
      –Sí, lo compré.
      –Yes, I bought it.
      –¿Has escrito la carta a Juan?
      –Have you written the letter to Juan?
      –No le he escrito la carta todavía.
      –I haven’t written him the letter yet.
    • Order Indirect Object + Direct Object:

      – ¿Me enviaste la carta?
      –Did you send me the letter?
      – Sí, te la envié.
      –Yes, I sent it to you.
    • Se instead of le or les:

      – ¿Compraste el libro a María?
      –Did you buy the book for María?
      – Sí, se le lo compré
      –Yes, I bought it for her.
    • Placement with positive commands, infinitives, and gerunds:

      • cómpraselo

      • comprarselo

      • comprándoselo

    • Placement with verb combinations:

      • Te lo voy a cocinar.
        I am going to bake it for you.
      • Voy a cocinártelo.
        I am going to bake it for you.

    That’s it! If you want to practice while learning how to cook Tortilla de Patata (a very typical Spanish dish), take a look at these activities we created. Enjoy!

    Downloadable Resources

    Elevate your language-learning journey to new heights with the following downloadable resources.

    How to use direct and indirect object pronouns in Spanish~Direct and indirect pornouns tableHow to use direct and indirect object pronouns in Spanish~activitiesHow to use direct and indirect object pronouns in Spanish~activities

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