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Direct, Indirect, and Reflexive Spanish Pronouns Spanish pronouns are only mildly tricky. I've taken the time to write out a quick pronoun overview for you when you have a quick question: Direct Objects Pronouns Indirect Object Pronouns Reflexive Object Pronouns Pronoun Order Direct Object Pronouns A direct object is the recipient of an action expressed by a verb. Note the bolded direct object of the following English sentences: She always tells the truth. He already ate the cake. the truth and the cake are direct objects because they answer the question WHAT does she tell? The truth! WHAT did he already eat? The cake! They are the direct recipients of action: in this case telling or eating. What is a pronoun? A pronoun is a word used in place of a noun. Things would get pretty boring if you had to refer to everything by its name all the time. In reality, you would probably just mention the cake once and from then on, use the English pronoun it instead: "She already ate the cake." "How was it?" "She said it was good." The same thing happens in Spanish. Instead of saying She already ate the cake. (Ella ya comió la torta.) you could say She already ate it. (Ella ya la comió) Note that in Spanish, the pronoun comes BEFORE the verb. The direct object pronouns are as follows: me for the English "me" te for the English "you (singular)" lo, la for the English "he, she, it" (lo for masculine nouns, la for feminine nouns) nos for the English "us" os for the English "you (plural informal)" los, las for the English "them, you (plural formal)" (los for masculine, las for feminine)
Let's illustrate their uses with a few examples: José me dio 2 regalos el año pasado. -> José gave me 2 presents last year. Te quiero besar. -> I want to kiss you. (always a useful phrase) El lo comió. -> He ate it. (el pan ) El la comió. -> He ate it. (la mantequilla) Spanish pronouns can also appear attached onto the end of the infinitive of a verb instead of in front of a conjugated verb: María quiere conocerlo instead of María lo quiere conocer. The difference is purely stylistic though Spanish speakers will tend to attach pronouns to the end of the infinitive if possible. Indirect Object Pronouns An indirect object expresses to/for whom or what the action is for. An example will make more sense: She tells him the truth. In this sentence, "the truth" is the direct object and him is the direct object. What did she tell? The truth. To whom did she tell it? Him! The indirect object answers the question to or for whom. The indirect object pronouns are as follows: me for the English "me" te for the English "you (singular)" le for the English "he, she, it" nos for the English "us" os for the English "you (plural informal)" les for the English "them, you (plural formal)" Note that they are the same as the direct object pronouns except for le and les instead of lo, la, los, and las. Examples Dámelo. -> Give it to me. ¿Va a Dárnos un regalo? -> Is he going to give us a gift? Roberto nunca me cuenta cosas así. -> Roberto never tells me things like that.
As with direct objects, indirect objects can also be attached to the end of an infinitive. Ella no va a contarme el secreto. -> She's not going to tell me the secret. Reflexive Object Pronouns A reflexive phrase is one in which the subject and direct object of the verb is the same person or thing. In English, a reflexive pronoun is denoted by the -self suffix (myself, yourself, himself, etc). "I'm going to wash myself" and He's making a fool of himself" are both examples of a reflexive sentence in English. Spanish has its own set of pronouns: me myself te yourself se himself, herself, itself nos ourselves os yourselves (informal) se themselves, yourselves (formal) Thus, "I need to wash myself off" would become "Tengo que lavarme". Some common Spanish reflexive verbs: lavarse - to wash oneself bañarse - to bathe oneself dormirse - to go to sleep acostarse - to go to bed etc... You should know that in Spanish, the reflexive is used much more frequently than in English. In English, you would simply say "I'm washing my hands" but in Spanish, you have to use the reflexive: "me lavo las manos". The same applies for "I'm going to bed" which becomes "me voy a acostar". This makes perfect sense when you think of it, because you are in fact washing yourself and putting yourself to bed: English just disguises this fact. Pronoun Order Spanish pronouns always occur in this order: reflexive, indirect object, direct object. However, there can never be more than 2 pronouns at a time. That is, you can't have a reflexive, indirect, and direct object pronoun for the same verb at the same time. Usually you'll see them in one of these 2 combinations: indirect - direct, reflexive - indirect. You will rarely see reflexive - direct. Examples: Dámelo -> Give it (direct object) to me (indirect object). Se me cayó la taza. -> I dropped the tea cup. (this particular construction is discussed in-depth on my Spanish verbs page)
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