When learning Spanish, learning how to use direct and indirect pronouns together is essential for fluency. These pronouns, which replace and clarify the objects of a sentence, can be used together. In this article, we will explore the usage of direct and indirect pronouns together in Spanish, providing clear examples and explanations to help learners grasp this important linguistic concept.
Direct and Indirect Pronouns Together
In this article, we are going to continue discussing Spanish direct and indirect object pronouns. It’s common to find sentences with both direct and indirect pronouns together. When this happens, you should pay extra attention to their placement. In Spanish, when there are two object pronouns, the indirect object pronoun always goes first. Let’s see some example sentences.
Spanish Pronouns Placement
Take a look at the chart below, which shows where each pronoun is placed in Spanish when they appear together.
| Indirect Pronoun | Direct Pronoun | Verb |
| hace |
Ella me hace magdalenas. Me las hace de pera.
She makes muffins for me. She makes them of pear.
¿Puedes darme una manzana por favor? Sí, te la doy.
Can you give me an apple, please? Yes, I give it to you.
Pablo te cose un vestido. Te lo cose para tu cumpleaños.
Pablo sews a dress for you. He sews it for your birthday.
Tomás nos compra tres cebollas y dos lechugas. Nos las compra en la verdulería.
Tomás buy us three onions and two lettuces. He buys them for us at the greengrocer’s.
La profesora Carmen nos enseña inglés. Nos lo enseña cuando venimos a clase por la mañana.
The teacher Carmen teaches us English. She teaches it to us when we come to class in the morning.
Luis y Fernando no traen regalos para vosotros. No os los traen porque no saben qué comprar.
Luis and Fernando do not bring presents for you. They do not bring them for you because they do not know what to buy.
Spanish Pronoun Se
In cases where two third person (he / she / it) object pronouns are used together (one direct and one indirect) in the same sentence, you must always change the indirect object pronoun
Le di el regalo a mi primo Juan. Se lo di.
I gave the gift to my cousin Juan. I gave it to him.
Ella le compra leche todas las mañanas. Ella se la lleva a su hijo.
She buys him milk every morning. She brings it to her son.
¿Tienes bolígrafos azules? Sí, pero se los doy a mi hija. Se los doy todos.
Do you have any blue pens? Yes I do, but I give them to my daughter. I give them all to her.
Yo le doy la contraseña de mi correo electrónico a mi jefe. Se la doy cuando me voy de vacaciones.
I give my boss my email password. I give it to him when I go on holiday.
Negative sentences
In negative sentences, pronouns in Spanish are placed between the
Rosa no le da el lápiz a su hermana. No se lo da.
Rosa doesn’t give the pencil to her sister. She doesn’t give it to her.
Ella no se la da. No, ella no le da tortilla a su hija.
She doesn’t give it to her. No, she doesn’t give omelet to her daughter.
Contáis la historia de este castillo a los turistas, pero no se la contáis entera.
You tell the tourists the story of this castle, but you don’t tell them the whole thing.
No podemos desayunar cereales. En el desayuno del hotel no nos los ofrecen.
We can’t have cereal for breakfast? In the breakfast of the hotel they don’t offer them to us.
Interrogative sentences
When you have direct and indirect pronouns together in a question, they go before the verb but after the question word. The order is always first the indirect object pronoun and then the direct one.
¿Quién se la lleva? ¿Quién le lleva la revista a nuestra tía?
Who takes it to her? Who takes the magazine to our aunt?
¿Cuándo se la das? ¿Cuándo le das la medicina a Fernando?
When do you give it to him? When do you give the medicine to Fernando?
¿Cuándo nos los vendes? ¿Cuándo nos vendes los muebles?
When do you sell them to us? When do you sell us the furniture?
Exercises
Let’s do some exercises to practice direct and indirect object pronouns together in Spanish.