Severn Spanish

Direct and indirect object pronouns III

 

Introduction/Review

If you’re feeling rusty, it’s a good idea to look over Direct object pronouns I/II and Indirect object pronouns I/II. This section will discuss what happens when you want to use a direct and indirect object pronoun together.

 

Combining Direct and Indirect Object Pronouns

You know how to use a direct object pronoun, and how to use an indirect object pronoun, but you might not know how to use the two together. It’s actually pretty easy to do, but it may sound a little weird at first. Here’s how it goes: the indirect object (the person/thing the action is done to/for) comes first, followed by the direct object (the thing the action of the verb is performed directly on). In a normal sentence, both still come before the verb.

Examples:

Ella me lo dio. (She gave it to me.)

Yo te los compré. (I bought them for you.)

 

The tricky part is what happens when both pronouns start with an “l” — any combination of lo, la, los, las and le or les. When that happens, the first pronoun (the le or les) changes to se. This is just so the sentence doesn’t turn into a total tongue twister.

Yo se lo di. (I gave it to them.)

Nosotras se la regalamos. (We gave it to him.)

 

Commands and Compound Tenses

It is also totally possible to have two object pronouns with commands and compound tenses. The order of the pronouns — indirect and then direct — does not change, but their placement might.

 

Commands

With affirmative commands, the pronouns are attached to the end of the command verb itself, as you’ve seen before. Likewise, you’ll still need to add an accent mark to maintain the pronunciation of the verb.

Examples:

Dámelo. (Give it to me.)

Tráigasela. (Bring it to him.)

Háganoslo. (Do it for us.)

For negative commands, the pronouns stay right before the verb, after the no.

 

Progressive and Perfect Tenses

With progressives, you have an option: you can either leave the pronouns before the conjugated estar, or you can attach them to the present participle, again adding that accent to keep the stress the same. The pronouns always come before haber with perfect tenses—you cannot add them to the past participle.

Examples:

Estoy explicándotelo. Te lo estoy explicando. (I am explaining it to you.)

Ella estaba diciéndomelo. Ella me lo estaba diciendo. (She was telling it to me.)

Perfect TensesWith these, you have to keep the pronouns before the conjugation of haber — you cannot attach them to the past participle.Examples:

Se lo he dado. (I have given it to them.)

Dudo que tú se lo hayas dicho. (I doubt that you have told them.)