The second part of our guide…
Indirect Object Pronouns in Spanish. #2
6
Minutes
5 great things about Spanish grammar
Learning a language can be a long and frustrating process. However,…
Word order when two object pronouns are used
In the first part of this class we gave you a gentle introduction to indirect object pronouns in Spanish.
Now let’s see how to combine direct and indirect pronouns in the same sentence. As we’ll explain below, Spanish does some fairly weird stuff when putting certain pronouns together…
Direct and indirect pronouns together
Here’s a quick recap of the direct and indirect object pronouns in Spanish:
| Direct object pronoun | Indirect object pronoun | |
|---|---|---|
| Me | Me | Me |
| Te | Te | You (singular, informal) |
| Lo, La | Le, Se | You (singular, formal) |
| Lo, La | Le, Se | Him, her, it |
| Nos | Nos | Us |
| Os | Os | You (plural, informal) |
| Los, Las | Les, Se | You (plural, formal) |
| Los, Las | Les, Se | Them |
Word order
You will, of course, often use direct and indirect object pronouns together in the same sentence. In this case the indirect pronoun comes FIRST!
- Me lo envió.
He sent it to me. - Nos la dieron.
They gave it to me. - No me lo dijiste.
You didn’t tell me (it). - Te lo dije.
I told you (it).
In the above sentences, the indirect object pronoun is in red, the direct object pronoun is in bold, and there is no subject pronoun (We explained in a previous class that subject pronouns are omitted very frequently in Spanish)
Now comes the complicated bit….
Se – The joker in the pack
This may sound strange, but we are not allowed to use the indirect object pronouns ‘Le’ o ‘La’ together with any direct object pronouns. We must use the pronoun ‘Se’ instead:
- Se lo envié.
I sent it to you/him/her/them. - Se lo regalo*.
I give it to you/him/her/them.
Just to underline this point:
Incorrect:
Le lo envié
Correct: Se lo envié
Likewise…
Incorrect:
Le lo regalo
Correct: Se lo regalo
Don’t forget that ‘Se’ is used for ‘him’, ‘her’, ‘them’ as well as the formal (usted) form of ‘you’. You should know from the context which person is being referred to.
*The verb ‘regalar’ means to give as a gift.
Errors to avoid.
Just keep telling yourself than when you use both types of object pronouns in a sentence then you can’t use ‘le’ or ‘les’ as the indirect pronoun. Lets see the plural forms of the previous sentence.
Incorrect:
Leslo envié.
Correct: Se lo envié.
And…
Incorrect:
Leslo regalo
Correct: Se lo envié.
Yep, they are exactly the same. You’ll normally know from the context who’s being referred to, or the speaker will add additional information to the sentence.
More grammar classes
Don’t forget that we have a whole section dedicated to Spanish grammar. No, don’t groan, you’ll love it!
