Direct and Indirect Object Pronouns

Let's first begin by looking at some examples of indirect object pronouns in English before we try to tackle them in Spanish.

Here are some examples of sentences that use indirect object pronouns:

He read me the list.

He read the list to me.

I give him chocolate.

I give chocolate to him.

Mark sends her a letter.

Mark sends a letter to her.

You tell them good morning.

You say good morning to them.

The teacher teaches you the lesson.

The teacher teaches the lesson to you.

Our mom brings us lunch.

Our mom brings lunch to us.

As you can see, all of these sentences use an indirect object pronoun. An easy way to identify an indirect object pronoun is to ask yourself this question: Subject Verb WHO What? Or, this question: Subject Verb What TO/FOR WHO? For example, He read WHO the list? The answer: me. He read the list TO WHO? The answer: to me. The "who" or the "to who" is the indirect object pronoun. In English we have two ways to write the indirect object pronoun as you can see in the above examples, but in Spanish you will be using me, te, le, nos, os, and les.

Indirect object pronouns in Spanish have the exact same job and meaning as they do in English, they just work a little differently. Me, te, le, nos, os and les are the indirect object pronouns in Spanish, so me = to me, te = to you (informal for tú), le = to her, to him, to you (formal for usted), nos = to us, os = to you guys (informal, plural for vosotros in Spain) and finally les = to them (ellos/ellas) and to you all/you guys (plural you for ustedes).

They will always be used with a verb in Spanish, and unlike in English where they come after the verb (e.g. I give him the book), they will actually go before the verb in Spanish. For example, you will literally say "I him/to him give the book" like this: "Yo le (him/to him) doy el libro."

Now, sometimes the pronouns le and les aren't super clear since they can refer to a few different things, so in this case, it's possible to say who le and les refer to by writing a (to) + the person like this: "Yo le doy el libro a él." This makes it clear who le is referring to. Anytime you want to emphasize who me, te, le, nos, os, and les refers to you can say a mí, a ti, a él, a ella, a usted, a nosotros, a vosotros, a ellos, a ellas, a ustedes or a + the person like this: a David, a mi mamá, a mi perro, etc. But you will always need to have the actual indirect object pronoun me, te, le, nos, os, and les before the verb each and every time.

Let's look at some examples in Spanish with these indirect object pronouns:

Él me lee la lista.

Él me lee la lista a mí (A mí is optional for emphasis, but it's not needed. The me on the other hand, must be used)

Yo le doy el chocolate.

Yo le doy el chocolate a Pablo. (A Pablo can be added to help make it clear who "le" is referring to, but again, you still need to use the le)

Mark le envia una carta.

Mark le envia una carta a Adriana.

Tú les dices buenos días.

Tú les dices buenos días a tus padres.

El maestro te enseña la lección.

El maestro te enseña la lección a ti.

Nuestra mamá nos lleva el almuerzo.

Nuestra mamá nos lleva el almuerzo a nosotros.

As you can see in these examples, the me, te, le, nos, os, les are all placed before the verb and they do mean to me, to you, to him, to her, to us, to them.

Those are the indirect object pronouns, so let's take a look at the direct object pronouns now.

Here are some examples in English just so that we know what we’re dealing with:

I buy the book.

I buy it.

The book is our direct object in the first sentence. You can easily identify the direct object by asking yourself: Verb WHAT/WHO? For example, Buy WHAT? Answer: the book, which makes it our direct object. Now, a direct object pronoun replaces the direct object so that you don’t need to repeat it. After all, if I’m going to continue talking about the book, then I don’t want to have to keep saying it e.g. I bought the book. I saw it on sale at the store. I’m going to give it to my brother. Let’s look at some more examples.

I see Paco in the distance.

I see him in the distance.

I accidentally kicked Rodrigo and Carlos while we were playing soccer.

I accidentally kicked them while we were playing soccer.

She hugged you.

They surprised us with a party.

My mom took me to school.

He loved Patricia.

He loved her.

As you can see in all of these examples, these direct object pronouns do one thing: they replace the direct object of a verb with a pronoun so that you don’t need to keep repeating “the book” or “Paco.” So, in your project this is what you need to do: use them (direct object pronoun!) just like this. You can identify that you have a direct object and a direct object pronoun by asking yourself: Verb WHAT/WHO? It’s a quick test to make sure that you are using the pronoun as a direct object pronoun and not something else.

Let’s see what these would look like in Spanish now that we know what they are in English! :) Our complete list of direct object pronouns is: me (me), te (you informal), lo (him, it masculine, usted masculine), la (her, it feminine, usted feminine), nos (us), os (you guys informal - vosotros), los (them masculine, ustedes masculine or mixed), and las (them feminine, ustedes feminine).

So, I can therefore use these pronouns to replace direct objects as in the sentences below:

Compro el libro.

Lo compro.

As you can see, in the second sentence I don’t want to repeat “el libro.” Instead, I want to replace it with a direct object pronoun. Since el libro is both masculine and singular, I use “lo.” You will notice that in Spanish, the direct object pronoun goes before the verb, so this is definitely something to keep in mind. Instead of saying “I buy it” you’re literally saying “I it buy” in Spanish. The pronoun will go before the first conjugated verb.

Quiero los carros nuevos.

Los quiero.

Los carros = masculine and plural, so los is used to match.

Encontré una gata en la calle.

La encontré en la calle.

Since una gata is singular and feminine, la is used.

Doy las flores.

Las doy.

Las flores is plural and feminine so las is used for “them.”

Yo veo a Paco en la distancia

Yo lo veo en la distancia

Lo (masculine, singular) replaces Paco in the sentence so that you don’t need to keep repeating his name. Then it will move in front of the verb.

Sin querer, yo pateé a Rodrigo and Carlos mientras jugábamos al fútbol.

Sin querer, yo los pateé mientras jugábamos al fútbol.

Los (plural, masculine) = them and replaces Robdrigo and Carlos so that you don’t ned to keep repeating their names if you continue talking about them. It then moves in front of the verb.

Ella te abrazó.

Now, the “you” that you will use depends on who you’re speaking to or about. Te is for the informal tú, while lo or la would be used for the formal usted. Os would be used for vosotros and los or las would be used for ustedes.

Ellos nos sorprendieron con una fiesta.

Mi mamá me llevó a la escuela.

You’ll notice that these also come before the verb.

Él amaba a Patricia.

Él la amaba.

La (feminine singular) replaces Patricia and is then moved in front of the verb.

These direct object pronouns can only be used with verbs. They can’t be used after prepositions. For example, in English, we may say “for him” or “by her” or “to me” but in Spanish, you can’t use these direct object pronouns here. Instead you’ll use mí, ti, él, ella, usted, nosotros, vosotros, ellos, ellas, ustedes, ello (it masculine) and ella (it feminine) after prepositions, so this is one thing to keep in mind.

Now, there will be times when you will want to or will need to use direct and indirect object pronouns together e.g. I gave her it/I gave it to her. In short, the indirect object pronoun will always come before the direct object pronoun, but the other main rule is that you can’t have a “le lo” combination such as le lo, le la, le los, le las, les lo, les la, les los or les las. It’s just not allowed in Spanish (too many l’s together!). Plus, lelo actually means “stupid” so you don’t want to be saying that! Instead the le or les will change to se so that you don’t have this combination just like this: Se lo di. Everything else that you’ve already learned about direct and indirect object pronouns applies so these are the two things to keep in mind when using them together :)