Spanish Pronouns: Direct and Indirect Together

When you use both a direct and an indirect object pronoun together in a sentence, you need to follow two simple but crucial rules.

Rule 1: The Order

The Indirect Object Pronoun (IOP) always comes before the Direct Object Pronoun (DOP).

• Indirect (who it's for): me, te, le, nos, os, les
• Direct (the 'what'): lo, la, los, las

Think: I before D. (e.g., me lo, te la, nos los)

Rule 2: The 'Le-La' Rule (The 'Se' Change)

This is the most important rule. You cannot have an indirect pronoun le or les directly followed by a direct pronoun lo, la, los, or las. It sounds awkward in Spanish.

When this happens, the indirect pronoun le or les automatically changes to se.

Example:

• Le di el libro a Juan. (I gave the book to Juan.)
• Let's replace 'el libro' (lo) and 'a Juan' (le).
• Incorrect: Le lo di.
• Correct: Se lo di. (I gave it to him.)

Another Example:

• Les compré las flores a mis padres. (I bought the flowers for my parents.)
• Let's replace 'las flores' (las) and 'a mis padres' (les).
• Incorrect: Les las compré.
• Correct: Se las compré. (I bought them for them.)

A Note for Your Reading

Sometimes, you might see these pronouns attached to the end of a verb, like dámelo (give it to me) or voy a comprárselo (I'm going to buy it for him/her). The rules for order and the se change are exactly the same, they're just tacked onto the verb instead of placed before it. For this drill, we'll focus on the most common placement: before the conjugated verb.