Herramientas de la lengua
Pronombres del objeto directo
Why do you want to know this?
Understanding pronouns and how they are used in Spanish will help you build strong sentences that are easy to understand without being repetitive.
1. What is an object?
Objects are usually nouns which come after the verb. Objects refer to people or things that are being acted upon or indirectly affected by the subject:
- They returned the book to the teacher.
- We gave the photos to our parents.
- She sent the letter to her son.
- He hit Rafael.
2. What’s a Direct Object?
There are different kinds of objects. Objects which answer the questions “what?” or “whom?” are direct objects (DOs). To identify DOs, read the sentence, stop at the verb, then ask yourself “what or whom?” The answer to that question is a direct object:
- They returned the book to the teacher.(They returned what? “the book” = Direct object)
- We gave the photos to our parents. (We gave what? “the photos” = Direct object)
- She sent the letter to her son. (She sent what? “the letter” = Direct object)
- He hit Rafael. (He hit whom? “Rafael” = Direct object)
¡Practiquemos!
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3. What is a Direct Object Pronoun?
Direct object pronouns (DOPs) are shorter words which replace direct objects. In the following examples direct objects have been replaced with direct object pronouns:
They returned it to the teacher. (The book)
We gave them to our parents. (The photos)
She sent it to her son. (The letter)
He hit him. (Rafael)
¡Practiquemos!
¡Hola! A continuación tienes un ejercicio para un total de 5 puntos Debes lograr al menos 4 ¡Suerte!
4. Placement of DOPs (Direct Object Pronouns)
Unlike English, where DOPs come after the verb, we put DOPs in front of the verb in Spanish. Notice the placement:
They returned it to the teacher. → Ellos lo devolvieron a la maestra
We gave them to our parents.→ Nosotros las dimos a nuestros padres.
She sent it to her son.→ Ella la mandó a su hijo
He hit him.→ Él lo golpeó
5. Other placement of DOPs
We don’t always have to place the DOPs in front of the verb. There are a few situations where we can use a sentence structure more like the English word order.
If our sentence has an infinitive (ar, er, ir verb) we may choose to attach our object pronoun to it (but we don’t have to):
I don’t want to buy it.→ No quiero comprarlo. / No lo quiero comprar.
We may also choose to attach object pronouns to present participles (ing verbs) if they’re available:
I am buying it.→ Estoy comprándolo. / Lo estoy comprando.
If our sentence involves an affirmative command, we must attach our pronouns to end of the verb:
Buy it! → ¡Cómpralo!
¡Practiquemos!
¡Hola! A continuación tienes un ejercicio para un total de 14 puntos Debes lograr al menos 12 ¡Suerte!
This unit “Direct Object Pronouns” was created by Alegría Ribadeneira by combining original material, sections about prepositions from Spanish411.net, licensed CC BY-NC-SA and Entrada Libre by Nancy Ballesteros, Alejandro Lee, Nicolás Cristoso, & Cristina Moon, licensed CC BY-NC-SA.
