Spanish Object pronouns placement
In Spanish there are two groups of object pronouns, direct and indirect ones. As noted previously, when a sentence features a single object pronoun (either direct or indirect) alongside a single conjugated verb, the pronoun is placed before said verb. Now, let’s find out what happens when there are two verbs or two pronouns.
Firstly, here’s a reminder of both groups of object pronouns.
| Direct Object Pronouns | Indirect Object Pronouns |
| me (me) | me (to/for me) |
| te (you) | te (to/for you) |
| lo (him) | le (to/for him) |
| la (her) | le (to/for her) |
| nos (us) | nos (to/for us) |
| os (you lot) | os (to/for you lot) |
| los (them) | les (to/for them) |
| las (them – feminine only) | les (to/for them – feminine only) |
Let’s look at some examples:
Me encanta el español. → I love Spanish.
Las limpio enseguida (las zapatillas). → I clean them right away (the trainers).
María le compró un libro. → María bought him a book.
María lo compró para Dani. → María bought it for Dani.
Dani le dio las gracias. → Dani thanked her.
Dani lo leyó en un semana. → Dani read it in a week.
When a sentence contains a conjugated verb followed by an infinitive (-ar, -er, -ir) or gerund (-ando/-iendo), there are two options as to where to place the object pronoun: it can either go before the conjugated verb, as seen before, or it gets attached to the second verb to form a single word.
| Necesito beber agua. | La necesito beber./Necesito beberla. |
| I need to drink water. | I need to drink it. |
| Sara quiere abrazar a su sobrino. | Sara lo quiere abrazar./Sara quiere abrazarlo. |
| Sara wants to hug her nephew. | Sara wants to hug him. |
The same applies when a sentence features two pronouns, that is a direct pronoun and an indirect one together. They can either precede the main verb or get added to the second one; however, the indirect object pronoun MUST always come before the direct one.
Here are some examples:
| Mi padre va a enviar el correo a mí. | Mi padre me lo va a enviar./Mi padre va a enviármelo. |
| My dad is going to send the email to me. | My dad is going to send it to me. |
| Rosario no puede contar la verdad a ti. | Rosario no te la puede contar./Rosario no puede contártela. |
| Rosario can’t tell the truth to you. | Rosario can’t say it to you. |
It must be also noted that when the indirect object pronouns le and les are combined with any direct object one, they change to se for pronunciation purposes.
| El perro trae el palo a su dueño. | El perro |
| The dog brings the stick to his owner. | The dog brings it to him. |
| ¿Puede dar las llaves a tus hermanas? |
¿ ¿Puedes dar |
| Can you give the keys to your sisters? | Can you give them to them? |
Exceptionally, object pronouns are always placed right after the affirmative form of the imperative in Spanish.
E.g.: ¡Me di! = ¡Dime! → Tell me!
¡Lo di! = ¡Dilo! → Say it!
¡Me lo di! ¡Dímelo! → Say it to me!
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