Object Pronouns with Commands

Pronoun  A pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun.  I, me, he, she, herself, you, it, that, they, each, few, many, who, whoever, whose, someone, everybody, etc.  Example: Joe saw Jill, and he waved at her.  In the sentence the pronouns he and her take the place of Joe and Jill, respectively

Direct Object  The Direct Object is an object which receives the "direct" action of a verb.  In the sentence, I buy a book, the book is the direct object because it is what I buy - it is being bought. It is being directly acted upon by the verb.

Direct Object Pronouns  Direct object pronouns relieve us from endlessly repeating the Direct Object itself. Me You Him, Her, It Us Them  I pick up the book. I look at the book and decide to buy the book. vs.  I pick up the book. I look at it and decide to buy it.

Direct object pronouns in Spanish

Pronouns With Commands  English Grammar Connection: You often use object pronouns with commands to direct the action of the verb at someone or something.  In English, you always place pronouns after the command.

 Give me that!  Don’t read it!  In English, the pronouns come AFTER the verb.

 In Spanish, the pronouns go two places:  Affirmatives ATTACH.  Negatives come BEFORE.  Affirmative  Attatch  Negative= don’t

 Affirmative Command:  ¡Dame eso! (attaches)  Give me that!

 Negative Command:  ¡No lo leas! (before the verb)  Don´t read it!

 affirmative: (attach)  Julia, describe tu comunidad.  Descríbela.

 negative: (before the verb)  No me digas la respuesta.  No me la digas.

 When you use a direct and an indirect object pronoun together, place the indirect BEFORE the direct.  Memorize this acronym:  RID  Reflexive, Indirect, Direct

 ¡ Ponte las botas!  ¡Póntelas!  RID

 ¡No te pongas las botas!  ¡No te las pongas!  RID

 When the indirect object pronoun le or les comes before the direct object pronoun lo, la, los, or las, change le or les to se.  In other words, Don´t le lo !  Se lo !!!!

 Enrique, explícale tu punto de vista a Raquel.  Explícaselo.

 When you attach two object pronouns to a command, you must add an accent mark to preserve the original stress.

 Quiero ver las fotos que van a usar para el mercadeo. Dámelas por favor.

 With the nosotros command, drop the -s of the ending before adding the reflexive pronoun nos.

 ¡ Organicemos una reunión! (drop the “s”)  Let´s organize a meeting!  ¡Organicémonos!  Let´s get organized!