Lesson 1.5 · Unit 1 · Structures
Replacing the thing the verb acts on
The direct object is the person or thing that receives the action of the verb: in Veo la película, the movie is what is seen. Spanish replaces it with a short pronoun that sits before the verb, which is the opposite of English word order. This is the first of the pronouns that give second-year Spanish its difficulty, so the first-year pattern must be secure before indirect pronouns arrive in unit 2.
- The direct object answers "what?" or "whom?". Compro el libro (What do I buy? The book.). Veo a Marta (Whom do I see? Marta.).
- The pronouns: me, te, lo, la, nos, los, las. Lo replaces a masculine singular thing or a male person; la, a feminine; los and las, the plurals. Me, te, nos are the first and second person.
- Match the noun you replace. Compro los libros becomes Los compro; Veo a Marta becomes La veo. The pronoun takes the gender and number of the noun, not the speaker's.
- The pronoun goes before the conjugated verb. Lo tengo. No lo tengo. Never after: tengo lo is wrong.
- With an infinitive or a progressive, either place works. Voy a comprarlo or Lo voy a comprar; Estoy leyéndolo or Lo estoy leyendo (with a written accent on leyéndolo).
- The personal a introduces a person as the direct object. Veo a mi amigo, Conozco a tu hermana, but Veo la casa. It is not translated.
- No personal a after tener for a person, or with an unspecified person. Tengo dos hermanos. Busco un doctor (any doctor) against Busco al doctor Ruiz (a particular one).
- A negative answer keeps the pronoun. ¿Ves la película? No, no la veo.
Where students lose marks: Veo lo (pronoun placed after), Compro los libros y los compro (the noun and the pronoun both stated), La veo a ella with no clue, and a missing personal a. Say it as a question first: what is the thing, what is its gender and number, and does a person need a?
The problem. Answer each question with a pronoun: (1) ¿Compras la camisa? Yes. (2) ¿Ves a tus primos? Yes, every week. (3) ¿Tienes los boletos? No. (4) ¿Vas a hacer la tarea? Yes, tonight (two ways). (5) ¿Quién te llama? My mother.
Step one: question 1. The direct object is la camisa, feminine singular, so the pronoun is la and goes before the verb: Sí, la compro.
Step two: question 2. A tus primos is plural, so the pronoun is los: Sí, los veo todas las semanas.
Step three: question 3. Los boletos is masculine plural, and the negative no comes first: No, no los tengo.
Step four: question 4. Two correct places with the infinitive: Sí, la voy a hacer esta noche or Sí, voy a hacerla esta noche. The pronoun is feminine because la tarea is.
Step five: question 5. The pronoun te is already stated in the question, so the answer needs me: Mi madre me llama.
Step six: reread. Check that each answer replaces the noun and does not repeat it.
Step seven: accents. The pronoun attached to the infinitive does not need an accent here (hacerla); it needs one only on a progressive (haciéndola).
Step eight: check. Every answer has a pronoun that matches the gender and number of its noun, and a pronoun placed before the conjugated verb or attached to the infinitive.
Problems 1 to 5 are routine. Problems 6 to 10 are multi-step or ask for reasoning.
- Replace the noun: Compro el libro.
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El libro is masculine singular, so use lo before the verb. Lo compro.
- Replace the noun: Veo a mis amigas.
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Feminine plural, so las. Las veo.
- Complete with the correct pronoun: Tengo las llaves. ___ tengo aquí.
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Las llaves is feminine plural. Las
- Write the correct form: Quiero ver (a / ---) mi abuelo.
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A person as the direct object takes the personal a. Quiero ver a mi abuelo.
- Answer with a pronoun: ¿Lees el libro? Sí, ___.
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Sí, lo leo.
- Say "I can't find them" (the keys) in two ways.
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Encontrar is a boot verb with an infinitive after poder. The pronoun goes before poder or on the infinitive. No las puedo encontrar. / No puedo encontrarlas.
- Say "My mother calls me every night, and I call her on Sundays."
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The first me is me; the second pronoun is la (my mother, direct object). Both come before the verb. Mi madre me llama todas las noches y yo la llamo los domingos.
- Find the errors: Tengo lo y veo Marta.
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The pronoun goes before the conjugated verb, so Tengo lo becomes Lo tengo. A person as a direct object needs the personal a, so veo Marta becomes veo a Marta. Lo tengo y veo a Marta.
- Explain why Busco un doctor and Busco al doctor Ruiz are different.
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Un doctor is any doctor, so no personal a; al doctor Ruiz is a particular, named person, so a is required. No personal a for an unspecified person; a for a specific one.
- Write three sentences with direct object pronouns, answering ¿Quién ve la televisión, quién escucha la música y quién ayuda a tu hermano?
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One correct answer: Mi padre la ve. Yo la escucho. Mi madre lo ayuda. Each pronoun matches the noun it replaces (la televisión, la música, a mi hermano) and sits before the verb. Mi padre la ve. Yo la escucho. Mi madre lo ayuda.