Topic Summaries

• Direct object pronouns: are used to replace the thing affected by the verb.

• • One-verb constructions: the pronoun goes before the verb.
    • Structure: [Pronoun] + [Conjugated Verb]
    • Lo veo. (I see him/it.)
    • Te escucho. (I hear you.)
    • La tengo. (I have her/it.)
    • Here, the verbs veo, escucho and tengo are all conjugated verbs. The pronoun must come before these verbs, to indicate that the verb is being done to the pronoun. For example, in the phrase ‘lo veo,’ veo is a verb that means I see, and the ‘lo’ before it indicates that I see him/it.
  • Two-verb constructions: come in one of two forms:
    • Option A: pronoun before the first verb. 
      • Lo quiero mirar. (I want to look at him/it.)
    • Option B: Attach the pronoun to the end of the infinitive.
      • Quiero mirarlo. (I want to look at him/it.)

In this case, we can either place the pronoun before the two verbs or we attach it to the end of the second verb. Both are correct and mean the same thing.

• • • Examples:
      • Necesito comprarlo. / Lo necesito comprar. (I need to buy it.)
      • Vamos a invitarla. / La vamos a invitar. (We’re going to invite her.)
      • Quieren verlo. / Lo quieren ver. (They want to see him/it.)
      • Debo terminarla. / La debo terminar. (I must finish it.)
      • Puedes llamarme. / Me puedes llamar. (You can call me.)
• Indirect object pronouns: tell us who is receiving the action of the verb

  Pronoun	Meaning
  me	to / for me
  te	to / for you (informal)
  le	to / for him, her, you (formal)
  les	to / for them, you all (formal)

  
  
  • For example: Doy el libro a Juan.→ Le doy el libro. (I give the book to Juan → I give the book to him.)
  • In this example, we can use the indirect object le to indicate that he (Juan) is receiving the book. So we can rewrite the sentence: ‘I give the book to Juan’ as ‘I give him the book,’ where ‘him’ replaces ‘Juan’ and le is the indirect object.
  • To recognise the suitable indirect object (e.g te, le, les…) we can ask who is receiving it. For example, who is receiving the book? In this case it is Juan (i.e.masc.singular) so we must use le.
  • For plurals, the same pattern applies: Escribimos una carta a nuestros padres.→ Les escribimos una carta. (We wrote a letter to our parents. → We wrote a letter to them.)
  • Examples:
    • Mi mamá me compra una mochila. (My mom buys a backpack for me.)
    • Te voy a dar un regalo./ Voy a darte un regalo. (I’m going to give a gift to you.)
    • Le contamos la historia. (We tell the story to her.)
    • El profesor les explica la tarea. (The teacher explains the homework to them.)
    • El camarero le trae el menú. (The waiter brings the menu to you (formal).)
• Affirmative command pronouns: to form a command from the verb:
  • Remove the -r from -ar verbs.
  • Remove the -r from -er verbs.
  • Remove the -ir from -ir verbs and replace it with -e (e.g.vivir becomes vive).
  • Then, attach the pronoun to the end of the verb.
    • ¡Míralo! (Look at him/it!)
    • ¡Cómela! (Eat it [feminine object]!)
    • ¡Escúchame! (Listen to me!)