1. Indirect Object Pronouns

2. An example would be something like this:
John came to school. I gave John a piece of cheese. We told John the story.
It is so much easier to just say this:
John came to school. I gave him a piece of cheese. We told him the story.

3. Indirect Objects: I bought her the shoes (for Jill). Or
An indirect object is a noun in a sentence. Not all sentences have an indirect object. Indirect objects answer: To whom or for whom is the subject doing something?
For example:
I bought her the shoes (for Jill). Or
She told them the story (to Tom and Harry).

4. We just used indirect object pronouns!!
English IOPs
In those sentences another way is to to just say:
I bought the shoes for her. Or
She told the story to them.
We just used indirect object pronouns!!
Sometimes we even switch the word order in English.
We say:
I bought her the shoes. And She told them the story.

5. Now: in Spanish! me us me nos you (ye) te (os) him/her you/them le les
Here is a complete list of English and Spanish indirect object
pronouns.
English Spanish
me us me nos
you (ye) te (os)
him/her you/them le les
you all y’all

6. Let’s try some!
Which Spanish indirect object pronoun would you use to replace the following nouns?
I give her candy (to my daughter). le
They threw us the ball.
nos
She told me the truth. me
We sold them the car.
les

7. Pronoun placement
There are five places a pronoun (any kind, not just indirect object pronouns) may be placed in a sentence in Spanish.
Directly before a conjugated verb
Tacked-on to the end of an infinitive (thus forming a longer word!)
ORDER: (Negative + IOP + DOP)

8. Before a conjugated verb
This is very common and unfortunately backward from English. We say, “I gave her the book.” in Spanish they say “(I) to her gave the book.”
Let’s try it. I want to say “We give them the book.”
(Nosotros) ___ damos el libro.
Which pronoun goes there?
les
How about; “She gives him her phone number.”
(Ella)___ da su número de teléfono. le

9. Tacked-on to an infinitive
This is much easier. Remember, an infinitive is an unconjugated verb. (It ends in “r”.)
Let’s try it!
We want to send you (tú) a letter.
___Queremos mandar___ una carta.
Notice te can go in either spot-Why?
She is going to tell us the answer.
Ella __va a decir__ la respuesta.
This time nos can go in either blank.

10. The Le Lo and Les Lo Problem
We can not put le+lo/la/los/las or les+lo/la/los/las together in Spanish. If you have a sentence that would require both, we change the le or les to se.
Example. I send her the message. I send it to her.
The “to her” should be le, and the it lo, but we need to change it to:
Se lo mando.

11. PRACTICE I write you letters. The girl gives us a drink.
Mario writes me a letter.
You all ask her questions.
Maria y Marta are going to tell them a secret.
Are you going to buy me a present for my birthday?

12. The end?  Te escribe cartas. La chica nos da una bebida.
 Mario me escribe una carta.
 Ustedes le preguntan preguntas.
 Maria y Marta nos van a decir un secreto.
 Maria y Marta van a decirnos un secreto.
 ¿Me vas a comprar un regalo?
 ¿Vas a comprarme un regalo?