Practice with Direct and Indirect object pronouns – for beginners Week 1

Question

One of the most challenging things for new Spanish learners is to grasp the use of direct and indirect object pronouns. If you would like a review of this subject, please check Paralee’s lesson by clicking here.

To give you some practice I’ll be posting two or three sentences to translate every week. I’ll give you the original sentence in English. You should translate the sentence into Spanish, then rewrite it replacing the direct and indirect objects (if there are any) with pronouns.

Example question: I throw the ball to William.

Responses: Le tiro la pelota a Guillermo.
Se la tiro.

This week’s questions:

Susan prepared breakfast for John.

Mary bought a blue shirt for you.

We took the coat to the cleaners

Remember not to look at other people's answers until you have posted your own.

• Excellent...I definitely need all the practice I can get! Thanks! - mar959 Mar 27, 2010
• good job, calvo, I take it you are moderating this thread yourself? thanks - Heidita Mar 27, 2010
• categroy - Heidita Mar 27, 2010
• great idea, you get my vote. - Maria-Russel Mar 27, 2010
• Gracias--your timing is impeccable; I so need this review! - Aamos Mar 27, 2010
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Answer 1

Although I like to tell myself I have advanced beyond the beginner status, I too often have trouble with indirect and direct objects so I hope you don't mind that I try the exercise.

1) Susan le preparó el desayuno para John. Susan se lo preparó.

2) Mary te compró la camisa azúl para tí. Mary te la compró.

3) Nosotros le tomamos el abrigo a la lavandería.
Nosotros se lo tomamos.

Excellent! Way to go!

• Everyone's welcome to do this. - CalvoViejo Mar 26, 2010
• Each of these responses should be two sentences, the first with the object nouns, the second with just the pronouns. - CalvoViejo Mar 27, 2010
• Don´t be afraid to use different words in English to guide yourself in the translation. Instead of "cleaners", think of "laundry" = "Lavandería". - CalvoViejo Mar 27, 2010
• Sorry about that, I redid it the appropriate way. - Fredbong Mar 27, 2010

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Answer 2

Calvo, thank you for your gracious offer to help with Direct Objects. I have a special problem with them. Here are my first attempts. I hope they do not tax your patience too much:

Susan le preparó el desayuno para Juan. Susan se lo preparó

María te compró un camisa azul para tí. María te la compró.

Le tomamos el abrigo a la limpiadores. Se lo tomamos

Excellent! It doesn't look like you have a problem with them. jeje And you're certainly not taxing my patience.

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Answer 3

Is this what you are looking for?

1. Susan le preparó el desayuno para Juan. Susan se lo preparó.
2. Mary te compró una camisa azul para tí. Mary te la compró.
3. Se lo llevamos. Le llevamos el abrigo al tintorero.

Excellent!! No problems with this.

• That's the best thing I've heard all day! Thank you. - h1deaway Mar 29, 2010

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Answer 4

Susan prepared breakfast for John.

--Susan le preparó el desayuno a John.

--Se lo preparó.

Mary bought a blue shirt for you.

--Mary te compró una camiseta azúl.

--Te la compró.

We took the coat to the cleaners.

--Le llevamos el abrigo a la tintorería.

--Se lo llevamos.

Excellent!! You even got the personal "a" in the first question!

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Answer 5

Susan le preparó el desayuno para Juan. se lo preparó

Mary te compró una camisa azúl para tí. te la compró

Le Tomamos (llevamos?) el abrigo a la tintoría. se lo tomamos (llevamos?)

Not sure which verb would be correct on the last one

• We always need the indirect object pronoun in front of the verb, even if we have the IO in the sentence. Llevamos is the better choice. - CalvoViejo Mar 27, 2010
• If you use "tomamos" wouldn't that translate to (we took it from .....); Where "llevamos" means (we took it to ... ) -- I think that is correct (I don't know for sure). - Daniel Mar 27, 2010
• Thanks. I even have that written in my notes, but not in a way that made any sense ; ) - mar959 Mar 27, 2010

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Answer 6

1.) Susan prepared breakfast for John.

Susan le preparó el desayuno para John.

Se le preparó el desayuno. Se lo preparó.

2.) Mary bought a blue shirt for you.

Mary te compró una camisa azul para ti.

Te le compró una camisa azul. Te la compró.

3.) We took the coat to the cleaners.

Le llevamos el abrigo a la lavandería.

Lo llevamos a la lavandería. Se lo llevamos.

• You don't need to repeat the objects in the second sentences. EG: Se lo preparó. - CalvoViejo Mar 27, 2010
• Oh yea! You are correct that I have trouble with IO's and DO's. - Daniel Mar 27, 2010
• of course you are, wonderful calvo, great thread, at your level, I would sure appreciate mor threads like this one;) - Heidita Mar 27, 2010

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Answer 7

1)Susan preparó desayuno para John. Susan se lo preparó. 2)Mary compró una camisa blanca para ti. Mary te la compró 3)LLevamos el abrigo al limpiador. Se lo llevamos el abrigo

Great job!! Remember the IO comes first (le, for 3rd person), followed by DO (la, lo), the the "se" changes to "le". Also, remember if there's an IO, you always need the IO pronoun, even if the noun is in the sentence.

• On the last one, you don't need to repeat "el abrigo". 1st & 3rd both should be "se lo"... - CalvoViejo Mar 29, 2010

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Answer 8

Susan prepared breakfast for John. Susan le preparó el desayuno para John. Susan se lo preparó.

Mary bought a blue shirt for you. Mary te compró una camisa azule para ti. Mary te la compró.

We took the coat to the cleaners. Le tomamos el abrigo al limpiador. Se lo tomamos.

Excellent!! On the last one, the verb should be "llevar".

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Answer 9

Example question: I throw the ball to William.

Responses: Le tiro la pelota a Guillermo. Se lo tiro.

This week’s questions:

Susan prepared breakfast for John.

Mary bought a blue shirt for you.

We took the coat to the cleaners

Susan le prepera el desayuno para Juan. Se lo prepera.

Mary le comprar la camisa azul para usted. Le la comprar. ......or Te la comprar, informal????

Nosotros le tomamos el abrigo a tintoreria. Nos le lo tintoreria.

Ayuda!

Could someone explain explain when to use se vs. te (or le??)

Galsally and Fredbong explain the "se" in their comments. You don't substitute "se" for "te". In the last question, the verb should be "llevamos". "Le llevamos el abrigo a la tintorería. Se lo llevamos." You're off to a good start. A misspelling: prepera should be prepara (actually, preparó). "Mary le comprar" should be "Mary le compró".

• if it would mean you had to write *le lo** or any other combo with 2 'L's' you change te first one to 'se' I think - galsally Mar 28, 2010
• Yes, galsally is correct. The indirect object pronouns les/le will change to se if lo/los/la/las are the direct object pronouns. - Fredbong Mar 28, 2010

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Answer 10

Susan prepared breakfast for John. Susan prepar el desayuno para John. se lo preparo.

Mary bought a blue shirt for you. Mary le compro una camisa azul para usted. Mary se la compro.

We took the coat to the cleaners. Le llevamos el abrigo a la tintorería. Se lo llevamos.

I don't think you quite understood the instructions. There should be two answers for each question. The first would be a simple translation (Susan le preparó el desayuno para John); the second would be without the direct and indirect object nouns, but with the pronouns instead (Susan se lo preparó). Mary le compró una camisa azul para usted. Mary se la compró. (or: Mary te compró una camisa azul para tí. Mary te la compro) Le llevamos el abrigo a la tintorería. Se lo llevamos. You're making a good effort. It'll start to make sense sooner than you think.

• nope, sorry, guess this one is beyond me yet - i watched the link lol :-( - AKgal Mar 30, 2010

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Answer 11

1.Susan prepared breakfast for John. Susan preparó un desayuno para John. Se lo preparó. 2.Mary bought a blue shirt for you. Mary compró la camisa azul para tí. Te la compró. 3.We took the coat to the cleaners. Llevamos un abrigo a la levandería. Se lo llevamos.

Sartinka, This is very good. Don't forget that if there's an indirect object in the sentence, there must be an IO pronoun before the verb.

Susan le preparó ...

Mary te compró ...

Le llevamos ...

The second part of each answer is correct.

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Answer 12

Susan prepared breakfast for John. Susan preparó el desayuna para John. Se lo preparó.

Mary bought a blue shirt for you. Mary compró una camisa azul para tí. Te la compró.

We took the coat to the cleaners. Llevamos el abrigo a la tintoreria. Se lo llevamos.

(I know I am a week late, but after trying the second exercise I knew I needed to review this!)

Lisbeth, you're doing fine. Don't forget that if there's an indirect object in the sentence, there must be an IO pronoun before the verb.

Susan le preparó el desayuno para John.

Mary te compró...

Le llevamos el ...

The second part of each answer is correct.

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Answer 13

Susan prepared breakfast for John.

Mary bought a blue shirt for you.

We took the coat to the cleaners

Susan le preparó desayuno para Juan. Susan se lo preparó.

Mary te compró una camisa azul para tu. Susan te la compró.

Le tomamos un abrigo al lavandoria. Nosotros se le tomamos.

Mary te compró una camisa azul para ti. In the last example, the correct verb is llevar (Le llevamos ... a la lavandería). Be careful of your spelling. Also, you don't need the "nosotros". It's understood because of the verb. Your Direct and Indirect Object pronouns are perfect.

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Answer 14

Me, too. I need the practice.

Susan prepared breakfast for John. Susan preparó el desayuno para John. Susan se lo preparó. Mary brought a blue shirt for you. Mary te compró una camisa azul para tí. Mary te la compró. We took the coat to the cleaners. Nostotros le llevamos el abrigo al tintorería. Se lo llevamos.

Sanlee, I think you're trying to put me out of business. This is perfect.

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Answer 15

Susan prepared breakfast for John. Se lo preparó.

Mary bought a blue shirt for you. Te la compró.

We took the coat to the cleaners Se lo tomamos.

Chocobo, You're doing fine here. I was expecting two sentences in response to each question (the first a translation of the question, the second eliminating the nouns), but you seem to have the concept. Tomar is probably not the best verb for the last question. A better verb would be llevar which means "to take" as in transporting something.

• Thanks for doing this. I didn't realize I needed to practice this until I tried it and had a bit of trouble remembering how to do it. - fatchocobo Apr 4, 2010

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