Direct and Indirect Objects in Spanish
n the last article, where we talked about the indirect object in Spanish, we left pending the discussion about the subjective differences in meaning depending on the word order - a topic we will cover in this article. Additionally, in this article, we will see how to replace both direct and indirect objects with their respective pronouns. Let’s go!
The basic word order in Spanish is Subject-Verb-Object. However, certain characteristics of the Spanish language allow for considerable flexibility in this order. First, there is the possibility of omitting the subject. Spanish verb conjugation, which can be a headache for language learners, means that verb endings carry a significant amount of information that, in most cases, allows the grammatical subject to remain implicit in the sentence. Thus, at first glance, “Yo desayuno café” and “Desayuno café” seem to have the same meaning. At first glance, yes – but in reality, no. There is a principle of language economy, which is not something forced but rather a natural tendency: people, in general, try to convey their message using the fewest words possible when speaking. This means that if, in Spanish – unlike in other languages—we explicitly state the grammatical subject in a sentence, we want to say something. Taking the breakfast example, if I say “Desayuné café,” I am simply stating that I had coffee for breakfast. However, if I say “Yo desayuné café,” while I am still conveying the same general message, I might actually be implying something more. If I emphasize the pronunciation of yo (“Yo desayuné café“), I could be highlighting that I was the one who had coffee for breakfast, as opposed to others who may have had something different. On the other hand, if I emphasize café (“Yo desayuné café“), I might be stressing that I had coffee rather than other available breakfast options. There is also the possibility of placing café at the beginning of the sentence to give it even greater emphasis. If I say, with an added stress on café, “Café desayuné yo,” I am strongly emphasizing that my breakfast was coffee, but with a deeper subjective nuance. For example, this could suggest that other breakfast options were not available to me for some reason, and I want to make it absolutely clear to my listener that I specifically chose coffee and nothing else – something that would not sound as convincing with a simple desayuné café.
The same happens when there is more than one object in the sentence. The most common word order when both a direct and an indirect object are present is Subject-Verb-Direct Object-Indirect Object, as in “Yo le regalé flores a mi hermana” (I gave flowers to my sister). Once again, the subject is often omitted, and including it adds a subjective nuance. Similarly, changing the order of the sentence components also conveys a subjective meaning. For example, I could say, “Flores le regalé yo a mi hermana”, where emphasizing flores in pronunciation highlights that this was the gift and not something else. Alternatively, emphasizing yo in pronunciation underscores that I was the one who gave her the flowers, not someone else. As we saw in the previous paragraph, many more word order combinations are possible, each with its own subtle nuance. As a general rule, what we place earlier in the sentence is what we intend to emphasize. However, as we have seen, sentence intonation in spoken language also plays a significant role in the subjective impact of the message.
Direct and Indirect Object Pronouns.
Let’s briefly review these concepts. The direct object is the one that undergoes the verbal action. For example, in “María compró una casa” (María bought a house), una casa is the direct object because it undergoes the action of being bought. When we replace this direct object with its corresponding pronoun, the sentence becomes “María la compró” (María bought it). The indirect object, on the other hand, is the one that receives the verbal action. In “Le escribí una carta a mi abuela” (I wrote a letter to my grandmother), una carta is the direct object because it undergoes the action of being written, while mi abuela is the indirect object because she is the recipient of the letter. As we have seen in this article, the pronoun le appears in this example because redundancy is common in Spanish. However, let’s now look at an example without this redundancy, replacing both objects with their corresponding pronouns separately, and then replacing both at the same time.
María (S) envía (V) una carta (OD) a Pedro (OI). When we replace objects with pronouns – except for certain exceptions that we will see below – the pronouns go before the conjugated verb. So, if we replace the direct object in this example, una carta, the sentence becomes María la envía a Pedro (María sends it to Pedro). If we replace the indirect object (a Pedro), the sentence becomes María le envía una carta (María sends him a letter), since le is the third-person singular indirect object pronoun. Now, if we replace both objects with pronouns, we must place both pronouns before the conjugated verb in the following order: Indirect Object, Direct Object. Additionally, there is an exception: when both object pronouns appear together in the sentence, the indirect object pronouns le and les change to se. Thus, “María envía una carta a Pedro” becomes: María se la envía (María sends it to him). Let’s look at the same example in other cases.
María me envía una carta a mí. María me la envía.
María te envía una carta a tí. María te la envía.
María nos envía una carta a nosotros. María nos la envía.
María os envía una carta a vosotros. María os la envía.
María le envía una carta a usted. María se la envía.
María les envía una carta a ustedes/ellos/ellas. María se la envía.
In summary, when we replace both objects with pronouns, they are placed before the conjugated verb, following the order: Indirect Object, Direct Object. All pronouns remain the same, except for le and les, which change to se. Now, let’s look at the exceptions.
With infinitive verbs:
The pronouns are attached to the end of the verb:
“Quiero darle el libro.” (I want to give him the book).
“Quiero dárselo.” (I want to give it to him).
With gerunds:
The pronouns are also attached to the end of the verb:
“Estoy explicándole la lección.” (I am explaining the lesson to him).
“Estoy explicándosela.” (I am explaining it to him.).
With affirmative imperative:
The pronouns are attached to the end of the verb:
“Dale el libro.” (Give him the book).
“Dáselo.” (Give it to him).
“Cuenta los cuentos a los niños.” (Tell the stories to the children). “Cuéntaselos.” (Tell them to them).
With negative imperative:
This is not an exception to the first rule we saw, but it is worth clarifying since it can cause confusion.
The pronouns go before the verb:
“No le des el libro.” (Don’t give him the book). “No se lo des.” (Don’t give it to him).
“No les cuentes los cuentos.” (Don’t tell them the stories). “No se los cuentes.” (Don’t tell them to them).
When I started learning German, I told my first teacher – who was a language geek – that German grammar felt like a torture from a thousand hells. He told me that I spoke Spanish and that it could also be very difficult to explain words like dáselo to someone learning the language. And here I am, in this article, explaining – or at least trying to explain – it in three lines. Because, honestly, I believe it’s just that simple. The order of the pronouns is the same, the change from le and les to se is the same – the only thing that changes is where to place them in the sentence. Still, let me know in the comments if you found my explanation insufficient, something possible. One last thing. I usually write my articles in Google Docs before uploading them to the blog, but what I’m about to tell you happens in many text editors. When you use words like cuéntaselos or explicándosela, many editors mark them as spelling mistakes. But they’re not. I swear to all of you.
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