Direct Object and Indirect Object Pronouns Used Together

Question

Here comes another question about DO and IO Pronouns-

We(m) sing it(f) for them(m).

"Nosotros se lo cantamos." I understand this one.No worries.

However,the other way of saying this is quite confusing and I don't even know whether it is grammatically correct or not.

"Nosotros cantamósselo?"

It is so weird! First thing is the written accent as I have no idea where to put it and the other is the combination of the "cantamós" and the attached "selo".

Appreciate your help. Cheers.

btw - nice avatar - does this mean that you're a fellow Kiwi? ;) - Kiwi-Girl, Jun 28, 2012

Answer 1

cantámoselo is not one of the three so this is incorrect.

Quite right Gringo but if she just changes one letter (á to é) it becomes the imperative and then it would work

cantémosela (la if you're talking about a song - la canción)

Answer 2

As I understand it there are only three places where the DO and IDO can be attached to the end of the verb: 1) infinitive, 2) imperative, and 3) present participle. And cantámoselo is not one of the three so this is incorrect. Also you indicated that the "it" was (f) so it would be "la" not "lo". So as I see it the only correct way is (Nosotros) se la cantamos. The (Nosotros) is not needed.

perhaps she meant - cantémosela ;) - Kiwi-Girl, Jun 29, 2012

Answer 3

Hi there -

I'd say that you have the accent on the wrong letter,

This is my understanding - it goes like this:

cantemos* + se + la (let's sing + to him/her + it)

(just a note that it would have to be the imperative form cantEmos not cantAmos for this to work)

because there are two s's next to each other (cantemoS Se) - when you put the words together one s gets dropped *

cantemosela

But to keep the original stress on cantEmos

we add the accent to the é - cantémosela

• This also happens when an s and an n end up next to each other eg. vamos nos becomes vámonos

I hope that helps

What about "Mi hermano está esperándome"? Can I say "Mi hermano me está esperándo?" as me is the IO pron here? - Orakei, Jun 27, 2012

you sure can :) you just don't need the accent on 'esperando' in the second instance. - Kiwi-Girl, Jun 28, 2012

Answer 4

In this case, you would not add the pronouns to the end of the word, so

"Se la cantamos" would be correct.

The only instances nowadays when the pronouns go after the verb are:

• Gerunds "-ando" and "-iendo"
• Infinitives "-ar", "-er", and "-ir"
• Affirmative commands (when you're telling someone to do something, or suggesting that "we" do something).

Vámonos is interesting because it appears to be saying "we go", but in reality, when you say "let's go" in Spanish, you use the indicative form "Vamos" rather than the subjunctive "Vayamos" in most cases. This means that "vamos" is an affirmative command, so the rules still apply when you are using "vamos" in its indicative sense, as in "we go".

I hope you haven't lost my train of thought here. These are a few good link to help you figure out when to peg the pronouns on at the end and when not to do so.

SpanishDict Direct Object Placement

SpanishDict Indirect Object Placement

SpanishDict Using DO and IO Pronouns Together

I would recommend reading them in order, as the following ones refer to the ones before.