Eastfield College -- Pronouns

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Pronouns

English	Spanish	Indirect Object Pronoun	Direct Object Pronoun	Reflexive Daily Routine
I	yo	me	me	me
You (informal)	tú	te	te	te
You, he, she, it (fml)	Ud., el, ella	le*	lo-la	se
We	nosotros	nos	nos	nos
They, them, You(pl)	Uds.,ellos, ellas	les*	los/las	se

Direct object Pronouns
The direct object is the receiver of the action.

The direct object pronouns in Spanish are: lo, los, la, las.
They can either refer to persons or things and usually go before the conjugated verb. Think of it as replacing the subject. They may also be attached to the end of an infinitive or present progressive (Van a preparlo más tarde.)

	Juan lee el libro	John reads the book.
	Juan lo lee.	John reads it.

	Carlos tiene los billetes	Carlos has the tickets.
	Carlos los tiene.	Carlos has them.

	Carman la ve a Theresa.	Carmen sees Theresa.
	Carmen la ve.	Carmen sees her.

	El padre mira a los hijos.	The father looks at the children.
	El padre los mira.	The father looks at them.

*There is no gender difference between le and les. Because of that, a prepositional phrase accompanies le and les to add clarity; e.g.,….a él, a ella, etc.

Position of Object Pronouns
with conjugated verbs

The object pronouns always precede the conjugated verb. If a sentence is negative, the negative word precedes the object pronoun. With compound tenses, the object pronoun precedes the auxiliary verb.

	El profesor nos explicó la lección.	The professor explained the lesson to us.
	El no me lo dijo.	He did not tell it to me.

In a statement, the subject goes before the verb: Pedro tiene un perro grande.
In a question, the verb goes in front of the subject: ¿Tiene un perro grande, Pedro?

Sentence structure:	Article	noun	adjective	verb	final dependent words
	La	casa	blanca	está	en Washington, DC

Indirect Object Pronouns
(me, te, le, nos, les)
(to me; to you, to her, she it; to us: to them)
The indirect object pronoun tells who is affected by the direct object.

The indirect object pronoun renames the noun.

The pronouns le and les are commonly used even if a noun object is expressed in the sentence. Indirect object pronouns are le and les. They can refer to either persons or things and go before the conjugated ver

Él le conto el episodio a ella. He to her told the story.
Ella les dio el mensaje a ellos. She to them gave the message.
La profesora les explicó la lección a los alumnos. The professor to them explained the lesson.
NOTE: me, te, nos can function as either direct or indirect object pronouns (to me, to you, to her, to him, to them, etc.)
Referring to objects already mentioned: impersonal, direct object pronouns:
Lo = you, him, it (masculine)
La = you, her, it (feminine)
Los = plural masculine
Las = plural feminine

¿Quién compró el pastel? Who bought the cake? Lo compró Raúl. Raul bought it.

¿Carmen, ¡dónde pusiste las servilletas? Carmen, where did you put the napkins?
Las puse en la mesa. I put them on the table.

¿Llamaste a Mónica? Did you call Monica? Si, la llamé ayer. Yes, I called her yesterday.
Luis, ¿encontraste la salsa? Louis, did you find the salsa? Si, la encontré en el refrigerador.
Yes, I found it in the refrigerador.

If you state the direct object noun, you must use both the indirect object noun and the indirect object pronoun -- Le doy el regalo al niño. I give the present to the child. Regalo is the direct object pronoun –niño is the indirect object pronoun. ¿Va a pagarle o no? )¿ (Are you going to pay him or not?) Le (him)is the indirect object pronoun…le goes at the end of the verb, pagar.

With an Indirect Object Pronoun

In order to express an involuntary or unexpected action, the reflexive pronoun along with the indirect object pronoun is used in the same sentence. You will note that the direct object of the English sentence functions as the subject of the Spanish sentence.

Se me cayó el vaso. I dropped the glass (it fell out of my hand.)
Se me cayeron los vasos. I dropped the glasses.

Reflexive Pronouns
Denotes action self-to-self

me	(myself)
te	yourself - informal
se	yourself, himself, herself, itself
nos	ourselves
se	yourselves (plural you)

NOTE: The single and plural you are the same (se)

Pronouns can be placed before the conjugated verb or attached to the end of an infinitive. (An infinitive is an un-conjugated verb).

Juan se lava el pelo. John washes his hair. (himself)
Estamos lavándonos las manos. (We are washing our hands. (ourselves)*
A ella está poniéndose los zapatos ....la blusa. (She is putting on the shoes…the blouse.)*
Juan le gusta ducharse. John likes to shower. (himself)

Reflexive pronouns are used only when you, he, she, it does something to him-her-it -yourself…..me, te, se, nos, se = self.

If John puts on shoes that he borrowed from you, you would then say –Juan se pone tus zapatos. John (himself) puts your shoes.

*The present progressive(-ing) form (–ando/ -iendo) must have an accent on the third vowel from the end.)

Juan se lava el pelo.	John washes his hair.
Juan le gusta ducharse.	John likes to shower.
Juan le gusta bañarse.	John likes to bathe (in the tub).
Me peino el pelo	I wash my hair.
Me quita la ropa	I take off my clothes.
Ella se pone la ropa	She puts on her clothes.

Me lavo la cara todos los días.	I wash my face every day.
Me gusta levantarme temprano.	I like to get up early.

A Juan se le olvidó el cuaderno.	John forgot his book.
A Juan se le olvidaron los billetes.	John forgot the tickets.

With infinitives (un-conjugated verbs)

The object pronoun can either be attached to the infinitive or precede the auxiliary verb. When two pronouns are attached to the infinitive, the infinitive carries a written accent mark to maintain the same tress.
Él me lo quiere explicar. Él quiere explicármelo.
María te va a ayudar. María va a ayudarte.
Ella nos lo prefiere mandar por correo. Ella prefiere mandárnoslo por correo.
El te quiere pedir un favor. El quiere pedirte un favor.

With Present Participles (-ando- -iendo)

With the progressive tenses, the pronoun can either precede the auxiliary verb estar (seguir, ir, or andar) or be attached to the present participle. When either one or two pronouns is attached to the participle, the participle carries a written accent mark to maintain the same stress.

Él está construyendo el puente.
Él lo está construyendo.
Él está construyéndolo.
El profesor está explicando la lección a los alumnos.
El profesor se la está explicando.
El profesor está explicándosela.

With Commands

The direct object pronouns are always attached to the affirmative command and always precede negative commands. If the command has more than one syllable, a written accent mark must appear when one or more pronouns is added. If the command has only one syllable, the accent mark is written only when two pronouns are added.

Hágamelo usted.	Hágalo usted.	(You) Do it for me.
No me lo haga usted.	No lo haga usted.	Don´t do it for me.
Hazmelo	Hazlo.	Do it for me.
No me lo hagas	No lo hagas.	Don´t do it for me.

Double Object Pronouns
me lo, te lo, le lo*, nos los

When two pronouns come together, the indirect object pronoun comes first (me, te, le, nos)

Juan me lo dijo. John told it to me.
María nos los enseño. Mary taught them to us.
Juan te lo explico. John explained it to you.
María me mostro las fotografias.
María me las mostro. Mary showed me the photographs.
Ella nos explico la teoria. Ella nos la explico. She explained the theory to us.

*Never use le and lo together (le lo). Lelo, the word, means dumb. Any time the direct and
indirect object pronoun comes together beginning with le, la, lo, les, los, etc., change the le to se….se la, se lo, se los, etc.

Possessive Pronouns

Used to replace a noun modified by a possessive adjective. The possessive pronoun must agree with the noun it replaces and is accompanied by the appropriate definite article.

Adjective	Pronoun
mi-mis	el mío, la mía, los míos, las mías
tu-tus	el tuyo, la tuya, los tuyos, las tuyas
su-sus	el suyo, la suyo, los suyos, las suyas
nuestro- nuestra	el nuestro, los nuestros, la nuestra, las nuestras
su-sus	el suyo, la suyo, los suyos, las suyas

Accent used only on first person, mi,mis inpronoun form.
Yo tengo mi libro (adjective) no el tuyo (pronoun yours)
Aquí están tus maletas. ¿Dónde están las mías? Here are your bags. Where are mine.

Mis faldas son viejas pero mis zapatos son nuevos.
Tus faldas son nuevas. Sus botas son bonitas.

Since el suyo can mean many things, it often is clarified by a prepositional phrase:
el de él. la de él los de él It is his...they are his, etc.
el de usted, los de usted, las de usted, etc.

Hester Chamberlain
Learning Assistance Center
Eastfield College