Spanish Indirect Object Pronoun

What Are Indirect Object Pronouns?

Indirect object pronouns (IOPs) replace or refer to the indirect object of a sentence, that is, to whom or for whom the action of a verb is performed:

• Nos hicieron muchas preguntas. (They asked us a lot of questions. — IOP: "nosotros" [we])

• Sandra está enferma, así que le compraremos una tarjeta de ánimo. (Sandra is sick, so we will buy her a get-well card. — IOP: Sandra)

There are six IOPs in Spanish. Here they are alongside their respective personal pronouns:

How to Use Indirect Object Pronouns 

Let’s look at an example sentence:

• Juan faltó a clase ayer, así que le di mis notas. (Juan missed class yesterday, so I gave him my notes.)

Here, "le" is the IOP that indicates the person I gave my notes to. An IOP can be used to refer to Juan rather than repeating his name, and the listener will know who is being referred to. Since Juan is a singular masculine noun, the singular masculine IOP is used. 

Placement of Indirect Object Pronouns

Indirect object pronouns are usually placed before the conjugated verb in a sentence:

• Vi a Julia y le di la carta. (I saw Julia and gave her the letter.)

There are a few exceptions to this rule, however:

Infinitvives

When using an infinitive verb, the IOP can either go before the conjugated verb or attached to the end of the infinitive. For example:

• Le voy a dar mis notas. (I’m going to give him my notes.)

• Voy a darle mis notas. (I’m going to give him my notes.)

This is also true when using a “gerundio” (equivalent to the present participle in English):

• Le estoy mostrando mis notas. (I’m showing him my notes.)

• Estoy mostrándole mis notas. (I’m showing him my notes.)

As you can see, you must add an accent to the "gerundio" + IOP combination to maintain the proper pronunciation.

Commands

When using an IOP with a command (the imperative), the IOP must be attached to the end of the verb. In many cases, an accent must be added here as well. For example:

• Dame tus notas. (Give me your notes.)

• Muéstrale tus notas. (Show him your notes.)

This is not the case with negative commands, though. Negative commands must follow the standard rule of placing the IOP before the verb:

• No me des tus notas. (Give me your notes.)

• No le muestres tus notas. (Show him your notes.)

Redundant Indirect Object Pronouns

In Spanish we use both an IOP and a phrase with the indirect object itself ("a" + [indirect object]) in the same sentence when introducing the indirect object in conversation:

• Le di mis notas a Juan. (I gave my notes to Juan.)

• Les envié una carta a mis amigos. (I sent a letter to my friends.)

While this may sound repetitive, both the phrase and the pronoun must be use in this case—alternatives that omit this seemingly redundant pronoun (e.g., "Di mis notas a Juan.") are considered incorrect in formal Spanish.

Indirect Object Pronoun "Se"

When both a third-person IOP ("le" or "les") and a third-person DOP ("lo," "la," "los," or "las") appear together in a sentence, the IOP is replaced with "se":

• Le dimos la llave a Lina. → Le dimos la llave. → Se la dimos. (We gave the key to Lina. → We gave her the key. → We gave it to her.)

• Les diremos a los agentes lo que sabemos. → Les diremos lo que sabemos. → Se lo diremos. (We will tell the agents what we know. → We will tell them what we know. → We will tell them.

• Dale un beso a tu abuela. → Dale un beso. → Dáselo. (Give your grandma a kiss. → Give her a kiss. → Give it to her.)

This change is made to avoid awkward word combinations like "le lo" or "les la," which are considered incorrect in standard Spanish grammar.

It's also common in Latin America and the Canary Islands to shift the plural "-s" ending of "les" to the DOP in the sentence:

• Le dije el secreto. → Se lo dije. (I told her the secret. → I told [it to] her.)

• Les dije el secreto. → Se los dije. (I told them the secret. → I told [it to] them.)

This helps reduce the ambiguity caused by using "se" for both singular ("le") and plural ("les") IOPs—just note that this shift is not considered correct in standard Spanish.

Verbs Commonly Used with Indirect Object Pronouns

Indirect object pronouns are commonly used with certain verbs, such as: