"le" or "lo"?

Question

I continue to get confused on the proper direct object pronoun for ":him". Is "lo" more common? Gracias, como siempre!

Answer 1

To use ian-hill's examples:

I hate him. - Lo odio - Lo = him = the direct object

You can find the direct object of a sentence by asking who or what is receiving the action of the verb. Who do I hate? Him

Lo always refers to him or to a masculine "it" so "Lo odio" could also mean "I hate it."

¿Te gusta el pan? Lo odio. Do you like the bread? I hate it.

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I gave him the book. - Le di el libro. - Le = him = the indirect object

Who or what is receiving the action of the verb? What did I give? the book, el libro = direct object

You can find the indirect object of a sentence by asking to or for whom or what?

To whom did I give the book? To him. In this sentence "him" is the indirect object so it would be "le"

"Le" could also mean "to/for her", "to/for you (usted)" So the sentence "Le di el libro." could also mean "I gave her the book." or "I gave you the book." If it's not clear who you are referring to you might add "a él," "a ella," or "a usted" to the end of the sentence to clarify.

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I gave it to him. - Se lo di.
When two object pronouns in the sentence are third person pronouns, the indirect object pronoun (le or les) is replaced by se.

it = lo = direct object

to him = se = indirect object

Thanks for the refresher! I was confused this morning translating: I found him where I was not looking for him. Lo encontré donde no le buscaba. All of the sudden I could not remember why the first part of the sentence uses lo and the second uses le. - Jennivee, Mar 5, 2012

Answer 2

Hi Bob This from our dictionary.

pronombre 1. lo (direct object) I hate him -> lo odio I can forgive his son but not HIM -> puedo perdonar a su hijo, pero no a él 2. le (indirect object) I gave him the book -> le di el libro I gave it to him -> se lo di