Perplexing Verbs and Pronouns
I encountered a few words with odd construction. They are "Contándoles"," dársela" and diciéndole". I know contando is the gerund of contar; diciendo is the gerund of decir. However, whay do these words are followed by pronouns? How do you use these kind of structure. Could someone please explain to me. Thank you very much.
2 Answers
Hey,
you recognized correctly that there are appearing the gerund forms of the verbs contar and decir. The left one is just the infinitive dar and as you said as well there are appearing indirect respectively direct object pronouns (and a combination) placed directly behind the verb.
That's by the way the explanation, why you have to use tildes in this case to keep the pronunciation of the gerunds and the infinitive dar as it would be without the additional object.
You need to use the pronouns, because they give you information what is done to whom. E.g. we make up a sentence with dársela.
Tienes que dársela. (You have to give it to her/him/them)
The context should normally clarify what the respective objects are. Of course you could use the longer form like this as well:
Tienes que dar la pluma a Miriam. (You have to give the pen to Miriam)
Here you should be able to see the big advantage of using the DO/IO pronouns to further improve your writing and speaking skills. If all the people know what you are talking about, you don't want to repeat it (it = what you are talking about 
) all over again.
Cheers
Well, the reason why these pronouns are attached to the end is because the verb is in the gerund form. When a verb is in the gerund form, the indirect and direct objects pronouns (respectively in that order) are place at the end of the verb.As for the tildes, as Tombot mentioned, they are to make sure the pronunciation of the gerund stays the same even with the addition of these pronouns.
In your examples "les", "se" and "le" are indirect object pronouns, and "la" is a direct object pronoun.
For example: Les conto mi historia. I tell them (or 'you' plural, formal) my story. This is in the simple present form, in the gerund it becomes Contándoles mi historia.
Le digo la verdad I tell him/her/you formal the truth. In the gerund form, Diciéndole la verad.
This structur eis also applied when the verb is in the infinitive mood, like in your second example "dársela" which literally means To give it to him/her/you formal.
For example, the sentence "He left before eating it. translates to Salió antes de comerlo. Another example : "I love her and I have to say it to her. = La quiero y debo decirselo. In this case, "se" replaces "her", and "lo" replaces "it".
I really hope I am not misleading you, I'm no expert, I am simply explaining it to you as I understood and I also stand to be corrected. 
