Can Someone Explain Double Object Pronouns To Me?

Question

I have a quiz tomorrow on Double Object Pronouns in Spanish and I don't get it at all. Could someone plz help me get a handle on it?

Thanks!

• I would love to have this explained as well.... - drenda56 Dec 14, 2009

Answer 1

Sure! Double object pronouns usually (if not always?) occur when there are two objects to the verb: a direct object and an indirect object. The direct object is what the verb is changing or moving or talking about. In the sentence "I gave the gift to her", or "Di el regalo a ella", el regalo or the gift is the direct object. It is what the verb is causing. An indirect object is generally what the verb does something for or to. In the sentence above, ella or her is the indirect object.

To combine both into double object pronouns, we would say in English, "I gave it to her." In Spanish, we use the proper pronouns in front of the verb, the indirect pronoun first. Since her is the indirect pronoun, we would say "Le di el regalo." When we make it a double object pronoun, instead of saying, "Le lo di." we would change the "le" to "se" and the sentence would read: "Se lo di." However, the indirect object pronouns 'me', 'te', 'os', and 'nos' stay the same.

For more information, see here.

Answer 2

Here's the blog to visit: www.languagelearningtranslation.blogspot.com Check the archive! There is a very recent post with everything you could ever want to know -- great links to each aspect of pronoun usage -- plus a link to Amazon where you can buy the books the author of that site has written. The featured book right now is his book on the subjunctive, but you can find his pronoun book as well, because you'll see his other titles when you go to Amazon. You can also check out: www.spanishfacetoface.com if you want live help. His books are searchable by the preface: Practice Makes Perfect. Good luck and I'd love to hear from you! Sincerely, Eric W. Vogt

Answer 3

Here are a couple of examples:

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*** IO's & DO's Together:***

• No se lo tengo. (I don't have it for you) {se = you, IO; lo = it, DO}

• Ellos me los dan. (They give them to me.) {me = me, IO; los = them' DO}

• Ella te la vende. (She sells it to you) {la = it, IO; te = you, DO}

• Velma sacó una galleta de su bolsillo y se la lanzó. (Velma took a cracker [Scooby Snack] from her pocket and tossed it to him.) {se la lanzó =she tossed it to him; la = it; se = him}

• No, pero me siento mejo si se lo digo. (No, but I feel better if I say it to him.) {se = him, IO; lo = it; DO}