Direct & Indirect Object Pronouns

Object Pronouns

 There are two kinds of object pronouns; direct object pronouns (DOP) and indirect object pronouns (IOP). Before we learn to use them in Spanish, you must first learn to properly identify them in English.

Direct Object Pronouns

 Direct objects show who or what receives the action of the verb. They are easily identified by asking who or what.
For example;
John hit the ball. What did he hit? The ball.
Ball is the direct object.
She kicked me. Who did she kick? Me.
Me is the direct object pronoun.
I bought a car. What did I buy? A car.
Car is the direct object.

Indirect Object Pronouns

 Indirect objects show to whom or what, or for whom or what the action is done. Again they can be easily identified by asking to/for whom or to/for what.
For example;
He bought supper for her. For whom did he buy it? For her.
For her is the indirect object pronoun.
We gave the money to the charity. To whom was it given? To the charity.
To the charity is the indirect object.
Sam forged a sword for you. For whom was it forged? For you.
For you is the indirect object pronoun.

Here are the object pronouns in Spanish.

Direct Object Pronouns
English
 Indirect Object Pronouns
English
Me
Me
Me
 To/for me
Te
You informal
Te
To/for you informal
Lo (masc)
La (fem)
Him,
Her,
It (lo if m or la if f )
You formal
Le
To/for him,
To/for her,
To/for it,
To/for you formal
Nos
Us
Nos
To/for us
Os
You informal pl.
Os
To/for you informal pl.
Los (masc)
 Las (fem)
Them,
You formal pl.
Les
To/for them
To/for you formal pl.

To properly use object pronouns in Spanish you must apply three rules.

RULE #1:
Object pronouns are placed directly before the verb.

 Examples;

DOP - I threw it. Yo lo tiré.

IOP - She sang to us. Ella nos cantó.
(notice that to/for is included with the IOP in Spanish and need not be written separately)

DOP - We didn’t buy them. Nosotros no los compramos.

IOP - You didn’t play for them. Tú no les tocaste.

RULE #2:
When a DOP and an IOP are used in the same sentence, the IOP comes first. This is known as the IDIOT rule.
indirect before direct

 Examples;

I threw it to you. Yo te lo tiré.

She sang them to us. Ella nos las cantó.

You didn’t buy them for me. Tú no me los compraste.

RULE #3:
If le or les comes before lo, la, los, or las they change to se.

 Examples;

I threw it to them. Yo les se lo tiré.
She sang them to her. Ella le se las cantó.
You didn’t buy them for him. Tú no le se los compraste.
We give it to them. Nosotros les se la damos.