Los pronombres - pronouns What is a pronoun? A pronoun replaces a noun. You can have subject pronouns: eg I, you, he, she, we, they Direct object pronouns: eg me, you, him, her, us, them Indirect object pronouns: eg to me, to you, to him, to her, to us, to them
Subject pronouns in Spanish yo I nosotros we Tú you vosotros you él he, it ellos they (m) ella she, it ellas they (f) Remember: you don’t always need to use the subject pronoun in Spanish as the ending of the verb tells you who is doing the verb. Tengo = I have Tienes = you have etc.
Direct object pronouns in Spanish Me me nos us Te you os you Lo him, it los them (m) La her, it las them (f) Question: Where to put them?
Direct object pronouns in Spanish You usually put the object pronoun before the verb. In English we put it after the verb. Ejemplos: Me gusta esa falda. La llevo. I like that skirt. I’ll take it. Mi amigo está allí. ¿Lo ves? Mi friend is there. Can you see him?
Más ejemplos: ¿Dónde están mis zapatos? ¿Los tienes? Where are my shoes. Do you have them? Tus hermanas vinieron a mi casa anoche. Mi madre las vio. Your sisters came to my house last night. My mother saw them. Fuimos a tu casa el sábado. Nos vio también. We went to your house on Saturday. She saw us too.
But watch out! You put the object pronoun after the verb in the following cases: After a command – eg Tráigame el menú – bring me the menu After an infinitive – eg Voy a darlo a John – I’m going to give it to John After a gerund (-ing) – eg Estoy poniéndolos en las mesa – I’m putting them on the table
Indirect object pronouns in Spanish These are quite similar to the direct object pronouns. They mean to me, to you etc. although we don’t always use ‘to’ in English eg she gave him the book = she gave the book to him. In this case you would have to say Le dio el libro Me (to) me nos (to) us Te (to) you os (to) you Le (to) him, it les (to) them (m) Le (to) her, it les (to) them (f)
Two object pronouns together – put the indirect object pronoun first: Eg: Did Susan give you my book? Yes, she gave it to me yesterday. ¿Susan te dio mi libro? Sí, me lo dio ayer. (Special note: le lo etc. changes to se lo - Where is my book? Did you give it to Jane? Yes, I gave it to her. ¿Dónde está mi libro? Lo diste a Jane? Sí, se lo di.)