Personal Pronouns — Indirect Object Pronouns

Personal Pronouns — Indirect Object Pronouns

Indirect object nouns or pronouns name the person or persons

to or for whom the subject gives or does something. It receives

the action of the verb indirectly. It may be a prepositional phrase

in English, but in Spanish it is always considered the indirect

object. The indirect object answers "to whom?" or "for whom?"

Martha gives John a camera.

or

Martha gives a camera to John.

To whom does Martha give a camera?

Answer: to John; therefore, John is the indirect object.

She makes Jane a dress.

or

She makes a dress for Jane.

For whom does she make a dress?

Answer: for Jane; therefore, Jane is the indirect object.

If a pronoun is substituted for each of the indirect object nouns above, the sentences will read:

Martha gives him a camera.

or

Martha gives a camera to him.

She makes her a dress.

or

She makes a dress for her.

The English indirect object pronouns and their Spanish equivalents

are:

singular	plural
me to me	nos to us
te to you - (informal)	os to you - (informal)
le to him; her; it; you - (formal)	les to them - to you - (formal)

Since le may mean you, him, or her, the speaker may want to explain further by adding a Ud.,a él, or a ella respectively. Les may be clarified by "a Uds., a ellos, or a ellas.

Martha le da una cámara (a él.)

Martha gives him a camera.

Ella le hace un vestido (a ella).

She makes her a dress.

The rules for the position of indirect object pronouns in the Spanish sentence are the same as for direct object pronouns. If used together the indirect object pronoun always precedes the direct object pronoun.

An indirect object noun is often anticipated by the use of the indirect object pronoun. Although the indirect object pronoun is not always required, it is better Spanish to use it. The indirect object noun in Spanish is always introduced by the personal a if is is a person. (e.g. Donó un millón de dólares a la universidad. Here the a is required but is is not personal.)

Él le paga a José muy poco.

He pays Jose very little.

Luis le ha dado a María su anillo.

Luis has given Maria his ring.

Yo le he escrito a mi esposa hoy.

I have written to my wife today.

The following verbs very often take indirect objects:

ayudar - to help	mandar - to send
comprar - to buy	ofrecer - to offer
dar - to give	pagar - to pay
deber - to owe	pedir - to ask for
decir - to say, to tell	pedir prestado - to borrow
escribir - to write	regalar - to give a present
enviar - to send	robar - to steal

Comprar, pedir prestado*, and robar require an object pronoun and a personal a before their objects. The preposition from is not translated into Spanish.

* Prestado agrees with the thing borrowed in gender and number.

¿Cúanto le debo?

How much does he owe you?

Yo le compro el diario a Pepe.

I buy the newspaper from Pepe.

Él le pide prestado el carro a Mike.

He borrows the car from Mike.

Él le roba dinero a su padre.

He steals money from his father.

When a sentence contains a direct and indirect object pronoun, they may not be split in the Spanish sentence and the indirect always precedes the direct.

John ya me lo ha pagado.

John has already paid it to me.

Mary nos lo ha vendido.

Mary has sold it to us.

For the sake of sound, when both object pronouns begin with the letter "l," the indirect object pronoun, whether singular or plural, becomes "se" in the Spanish sentence.

Juan le lo da. = Juan se lo da.

Juan gives it to him.

Mary les los vende. = Mary se los vende.

Mary sells them to them.