Direct Object Pronouns vs. Indirect Object Pronouns
How do I know which is which in a sentence?
For example in this sentence....
My friend has a big hat.
Mi amigo tiene un gran sombrero.
The direct object would be the hat?
2 Answers
Yes. The direct object would be the hat.
It's convenient to think of the direct object as that object or entity that is directly acted upon by the verb. A transitive verb is said to require a direct object in order to complete its meaning. For example, an expression such as "My friend has" begs the question what does your friend have. The "what," in this case, is represented by the direct object.
Examples:
- What does he have?/¿Qué tiene tu amigo?
He has a hat/Tiene un sombrero.
What was Samuel reading?/¿Qué leía Samuel?
- Samuel was reading a book/Samuel leía un libro.
Clearly, the hat would not "have your friend," and it would not make much sense to say that the book was "reading Samuel." However, it is possible for the direct object to be another person or other entity, and when this is the case, the direct object is marked by what many refer to as the "personal a."
For example, in English, it is very clear from the word order who loves who in the following sentence:
- Ricky loves Lucy
That is, in English, the subject (Ricky) generally precedes the verb, and the direct object (Lucy) follows the verb. Thus, in English the word order provides the cue help us understand that Lucy is the object of Ricky's affection and not the other way around. However, in Spanish the word order is not so rigid and an utterance such as the one that follows would be ambiguous as we would not be able to determine the subject:
- Ricky ama Lucy (ambiguous)
Instead, Spanish employs the marker "a" (personal a) to clearly delineate the subject from the object:
- Ricky ama a Lucy (clearly marks "Lucy" as being the object of Ricky's affection and not vice versa)
I am a grammar idiot. This question got me thinking and I did a little research, very hard work requiring slightly more than a dozen key strokes and 5 minutes of reading.
The result was finding the page at the link below. Very easy to understand definition of intransitive and transitive verbs. A subject about which I have had a long standing mental block.
Take a look.
