At the beginning of the course we studied the subject personal pronouns (Yo, tú, él, ella, usted, nosotros/as, vosotros/as, ellos/as, ustedes). Their function in a sentence is to fulfill the role of subject, that is, to indicate who is doing the action.

As well as working as subjects in a sentence, personal pronouns can work as objects in a sentence. What this means is that instead of doing the action, they are involved in the action, receiving the action either directly or indirectly, hence the name direct/indirect objects. This happens also in English like for instance "I saw Peter this morning" -> "I saw him this morning", or "I give the present to Peter" or "I give the present to him". In the first sentence, "him" is functioning as a direct object because Peter receives the action directly. It is Peter that I have seen. In the second sentence "to him" is an indirect object because the action of giving falls directly on "the present". What I give is a present, I am not giving Peter away. Peter is the final receiver of the action, he receives the action indirectly, therefore, we use an indirect object pronoun.

Below are the direct and indirect object pronouns in Spanish:

As you can see, the direct and indirect object pronouns in Spanish are the same for the first and second persons singular and plural. However, for the 3^rd person singular and plural there is a difference between both types of object. Because of that, it is very important for you to understand the difference between these 2 types.

Normally speaking, in a Spanish sentence we use DO (direct object) pronouns LO, LA, LOS, LAS when we have only one object. It usually refers to things and it may also refer to people.

We use IO (indirect object) pronouns LE, LES (SE) when we have 2 objects. The DO refers to things and the IO refers to people.

In the first step, we change the indirect object (a Juan/a los niños) for the corresponding IO pronoun (LE/LES). In the second step we change the direct object (un libro/caramelos) for the corresponding DO pronoun (LO/LOS). It is quite simple but you have to think before hand whether the object refers to people or things and whether the object receives the action directly or indirectly.

RULES ABOUT THE USE OF DIRECT AND INDIRECT OBJECT PRONOUNS

1. DO and IO always go before the verb except in the case of the IMPERATIVE, INFINITIVE or GERUND. With the infinitive and gerund you have a choice to put them before the verb or after the infinitive or gerund, always attached at the end.

Tengo los billetes ->LOS tengo
Doy dinero al mendigo ->LE doy dinero
IMPERATIVO	->(you be quiet!) ¡Cállate!
INFINITIVO	-> (I want to tell you something)
	Quiero decirte algo	Te quiero decir algo
GERUNDIO	-> (She is washing it)
	Ella está lavándolo	Ella lo está lavando

2. When we use both object pronouns, the IO goes first and the DO goes second.

(she gives me the book) ->Ella me da el libro ->Ella me lo da

3. When we have a sequence of the IO pronoun LE, LES followed by one of these DO pronouns LO, LA, LOS, LAS , the IO pronoun changes from LE, LES to SE.

(I give him a present) -> Le doy un regalo -> Le lo doy -> Se lo doy

4. In Spanish it is quite common to repeat the IO pronoun twice.

¿Te da Rosa el dinero? No, a mí no me lo da.