LOS PRONOMBRES DE LOS COMPLEMENTOS DIRECTOS E INDIRECTOS

double object pronouns

So just what the &^##@?? do you mean by double object pronouns? I don’t even know what that means in English, so how the **#@@!?? are we going to talk about those in español??!!

Good question. I was wondering the same thing.

Let’s deal with it in English first.

Look at the following sentence :

My teacher gives us too much homework.

Identify the:

subject:verb: direct object: indirect object:

Did you say:

Subject = My teacher

Verb = gives

Direct object = too much homework

Indirect object = us

Let’s try a few more in English before we move on to Spanish.I gave my money to Peter.

Break it down into:SubjectVerbDirect objectIndirect object

Did you say… ?

Subject = IVerb = gaveD.O = my moneyI.O = Peter

Great. Just a couple more in English

Did she loan it to you?Subject =Verb =D.O. = I.O =(Were you wondering about that word “did” in that sentence? That’s just a crazy thing we do in English. We need a form of the verb “do” as an auxiliary verb or helping verb in order to form a question, they don’t do that in Spanish – see! There’s that crazy “do “ thing again. We also use if to make a sentence negative. The main verb in sentence above in “loan.” The “did” tells you it’s a question in the past tense. English is hard. Be glad you aren’t learning to speak English.)

Did she loan it to you?

Subject = she

Verb = loan

D.O. = it

I.O. = you(remember: ignore the “did”)

So let’s talk about pronouns and specifically object pronouns. Btw, in Spanish we call pronouns: pronombres and objects complementos. Since this is the focus of this unit we’ll be referring to the pronombres de los complementos. Ok?

When and why do we use pronouns (or: pronombres)? Look at the following and tell me.

I saw John yesterday. He had my book. I really needed it. He had borrowed it from me and didn’t return it. So I told him to give it back to me.

Underline all of the pronouns in this paragraph. Why did we use pronouns?

I saw John yesterday. He had my book. I really needed it. He had borrowed it from me and didn’t return it. So I told him to give it back to me.

Ok? Do you see why it’s important to be able to use pronouns? We use them all the time. They use them all the time in Spanish too. You already know how to do subject pronouns in Spanish, right?

Check out these sentences in Spanish. The second one has replaced the nouns with pronouns. Make some observations.

María tiene mi libro.

Ella tiene.

Paco siempre me da dinero.

Él siempre da.me lo

lo

Pedro nos presta su casa.

Él nos la presta.

Mi madre me hace el almuerzo.

Ella me lo hace.

Which pronoun is in yellow? And red?

We’ll keep our direct object pronouns (pronombres de los complementos directos – that’s a mouthful) in red.

We’ll keep our indirect object pronouns (pronombres de los complementos indirectos) in yellow.

So… Yo te lo explico.

The direct and indirect object pronouns in English and Spanish.In English d.o. and i.o pronouns are the same:

Me us

You you

Him/her/it them

(In English our i.o. are often preceded with a prepositon: I gave it to her.)

In Spanish there’s just a little variation between them.

Spanish I,o and d.o pronouns.Pronombres de complementos directos

Me nos

Te os

Lo/lalos/las

Pronombres de complementos indirectos

Me nos

Te os

Le les

Where do you see a difference?