Should I use le or lo?

Question

What is the difference between le and lo? When should le be used and when should lo? Are the two words interchangeable?

Answer 1

FOR THE MOST PART, le is a pronoun that means "to him/her" or "for him/her." In other words, it's an indirect object pronoun. (In some cases it will mean "to/for you" where "you" is "Usted.") So if you want to say something like "I'm giving him the book," you have to keep in mind that "he" is not being given. The book is being given. The book is being given "to him" so you would say "Le doy el libro."

If you wanted to replace "the book" with a pronoun, you'd use "lo" because el libro is masculine. If it were a house, you'd use "la" because la casa is feminine. Those are the direct object pronouns for the singular. Direct objects are receiving the action -- so you can ask yourself, "What is being given?" if the verb is "give", "What is being read?" if the verb is "read", etc. So, if you're giving a book (el libro) and you want to say, "I'm giving it," you say, "Lo doy." If you're giving several books, "Los doy."

And I'm sorry to tell you that if you want to use both le and lo together, "I'm giving it (el libro) to him," le becomes se to make pronunciation easier, and the sentence becomes "Se lo doy."

It seems like what all the answers are trying to tell you when they refer you to excellent articles and other sites is that it gets complicated. What I've written above is the least of the uses of both of those pronouns. It'll take some practice!

Answer 2

Check out this great article

Great article. Thanks! - catalina4th, Mar 1, 2011

Answer 3

With all due respect to VB 102688, that answer is not correct. Try reading these articles from this site's Reference Section. They are not perfect, but will do a great job getting you on the right track.

Direct Object Pronouns

Indirect Object Pronouns

Direct and Indirect Object Pronouns Practice

Answer 4

Le is like you in "How can I help you?".

Lo is "him" (like ... I will help him) , and is used like "it" (Put it down... Give me it...) ("LO" IS NOT EQUIVALENT TO "IT" ALL THE TIME.)

There's more to this topic than I can comfortably explain, but I hope this is a start.

This answer is not accurate. The difference has to do with the difference between 3rd person direct object pronouns (lo/los/la/las) & 3rd person indirect object pronouns (le/les), which are different in Spanish & English. ... - hhmdirocco, Mar 1, 2011

... Try reading the articles in this site's Reference section, found in the drop-down window under "MORE." Click on "Spanish Grammar" and then look under Pronouns. Links to these articles can be found in my Answer to this question. - hhmdirocco, Mar 1, 2011

I'm sorry, no offense intended at ALL - but how did this answer become the best, accepted answer?? - Charlius, Mar 1, 2011

good question - catalina4th, Mar 1, 2011

Answer 5

"le" is 3rd person singular mas./ fem. for the indirect objects and "lo" is mascular singular in the direct objects. It is mainly used to say it, you or him.