How to conjugate indirect object pronouns in spanish
Direct and Indirect Object Pronouns in Spanish
Timecodes:
hey everybody Q RuPaul here a viewer
recently asked me if I would talk about
direct and indirect object pronouns
involving people in particular this
coincided with another request that I
received in the comments section
recently
about basically the same thing
specifically the whole latest say thing
in other words they want to be able to
translate sentences like these did you
give the book to Maria
yes I gave it to her
celody or yes I gave it to Maria
going on in there you got word order
shifts uh there's a lot going on in
there this is an area of Spanish that
typically gives English speakers a lot
of trouble because it does not mirror
English at all but don't worry I'm going
to take my time and walk you through it
I'm going to be talking about the
personal ah direct to indirect object
pronouns word order and the Redundant
lay in Spanish and probably a lot of
other things too but don't worry I'm
going to tie it all together by the end
of this thing I'm optimistic that you'll
have a good understanding of it all
let's get started in English the typical
word order is subject verb object and
I'm not going to be saying it that way
over and over I'm just going to be using
the first letters SVO so when you see
SVO you'll think subject verb object no
matter what order I put those in so in
English we typically use SVO ic1 I is
the subject C is the verb Juan is the
object Spanish word order is Allah lot
more flexible but in sentences like
these you can still stick to SVO yo
yo is the subject Bao is the verb Juan
is the object in Spanish it's very
common to drop the subject from the
sentence if it's clear from the verb
conjugation or the context who the
subject is so in a sentence like this
it's more common to just hear Juan
I see Juan but it's still subject verb
object don't just think it's verb object
let's talk about that a or ah that
appears between the verb and Juan that
is called the personal ah if the object
of the sentence is a person or refers to
a person you're going to put an ah in
front of it that's why it's called the
personal op you won't do this if the
object is not referring to a person for
example
I see your house see there's no ah in
there those are not people people will
often use the personal off for their
pets you know the whole fur baby thing
they're like people
I see my little dog even called it
perrito so it's even cuter but that
practice is not extended to other
animals for example
I see two dolphins not bail ah dos
delfines unless of course I guess those
dolphins are your pets which I don't
know maybe you could stick it in there I
don't recommend it dogs and cats pretty
safe the personal eye is also used
before words referring to people like
algien someone or nadie no one noveo I
don't see anyone in negative sentences
the no is going to go just before the
verb if you'd left yo in there it would
have gone before no yo no no I kind of
went off on a tangent there but it was
necessary because we will be using the
personal uh a lot today all right so
let's get back to this SVO between
English and Spanish remember that's
subject verb object right I see Juan
Bao F1 those are mirroring each other
pretty comfortable so far well things
get complicated when we replace the
object with a pronoun I see him
lobeo if we had the YO in there it would
go before the low those object pronouns
are going to go right before that
conjugated verb so let's just put the YO
in there just so we can see our word
order Yo Lo veyo sov right that's
different than English at this point in
the video I need to go off on another
tangent and I need to speak about
dialect differences in Spanish for
example in Spain you may hear lebeo
instead of Lobel but that usage is not
typical throughout the Spanish-speaking
world and this is where Spanish can get
a little frustrating because the use of
say object pronouns like what we'll be
talking about today it's not uniform
throughout the whole Spanish-speaking
World there are some general rules you
can follow that you're going to be right
about 90 of the time and that's what I'm
going to be talking about today but
you're going to find little differences
by country and even region within that
country safe thing is learn it the way
I'm showing you and then if you start to
focus on the Spanish for a particular
area learn those little nuances and
tweak your Spanish for the purposes of
this we're going to be saying I I see
him lobeo I see Maria
don't forget that personal law right I
see her
LaBelle see with him it was Lo and with
her it was La so where's all this low
and law coming from well these are your
direct object pronouns and this is what
you're going to be replacing the object
with so let's go through those we have
Mei which is me te which is you but the
informal you or the two form we have Lo
which is he or it for masculine nouns
this is also where you're going to be
using the formal you
usted La that's for she and it as in a
feminine noun NOS us now it's pretty
easy so we have Los which means them
when referring to either all males or if
we're talking about nouns they're all
masculine nouns or it is a mixed group
of male and female even if you have all
female except for one you're still going
to be using Los this is also where
you're going to be putting you plural
last one on the list is Las it can mean
them or you plural but it's going to be
referring to all feminine nouns okay so
if everybody in your group is female you
would be using last when you're going to
say you plural or you're going to say
them remember in Spanish nouns have
gender so if we ask do you see Maria
Besa Maria
si laveo yes I see her beso Los Hombres
do you see the man
SI Los bue I see them it's lost because
it's Los Hombres
do you see the buildings see
yes I see them it's Los edificios so our
object pronoun is Los that's not that
tough right using May me day you
informal or NOS us is even easier do you
see me see
yes I see you or no no tebeo that double
negation is very common in Spanish so
somebody asks you a question you're
going to answer it like do you see me
you're going to say no
and then you're going to specify I don't
see you no no
you'll get used to that no space do you
see us now if it's an all-masculine
group or a mixed group you would say see
if it's an all-feminine Group C Las
Bello so in simple sentences like this
you're just going to be popping that
direct object pronoun right in front of
the conjugated verb right up against it
super easy right well most students get
the hang of this construction fairly
quickly with some practice it's pretty
straightforward and you can use it with
a variety of verbs for example en
contrast did you find the book si
loincontre yes I found it in contrast
Las Flores what do you think this one's
going to be look at Las Flores right
it's feminine it's plural
if you said no we're going to fall back
on our double negative no
let's play with this a little bit using
the verb dejar which is a mega verb it
has many different meanings but one of
the meanings is to leave something
behind somewhere okay it's that kind of
leaf not like you leaving a place more
like you leaving your keys somewhere in
fact let's go and use that one
where did you leave the keys I left them
in the kitchen this isn't going to
change we're talking about yaves which
is feminine it's plural we know we're
going to be using Las we're going to
drop it right in front of our verb in La
Cocina I left them in the kitchen
where did you leave the dog take a look
at that the personal eyes in there
because well we love our pets right but
there's an L too where did that come
from well I was referring to El Perro
the dog and when that ah appears before
the L it makes an awkward sound so they
kind of put them together and it becomes
Al I left it outside right we're talking
about El Perros masculine so we know
we're going to be using low we're gonna
drop it in front of our verb
I left it outside
this still isn't too hard right it's not
too bad but we're still not there yet
because the purpose of this lesson is to
allow you to translate sentences like
the one in the examples remember those
those were more complex did you give the
book to Maria
yes I gave it to her SI celody
or yes I gave it to Maria
SI celody a Maria so in the first one
we've got a lay in there and these other
ones we don't have lay but we have say
we're still recognizing our direct
object pronoun because that lows in
there we know that that refers to the
book but there's a lot of other things
going in there now students often
confuse that say with the say that's in
reflexive verbs reflects a verb example
would be
to wash oneself well this say is
different it's actually going to be an
object pronoun that's referring to in
this case Maria but as you notice in
that last sentence we have it and we
still have Maria so we have an object
pronoun to say like to her but then we
have the name Maria no that was not an
error it's actually a redundant pronoun
and it's something Spanish likes to do
that's very different than English and
one of the things that makes this
particular construction we'll be talking
about a little more confusing for folks
but don't worry like I said we're going
to walk you through it's not going to be
a problem all right we're going to be
working with one Spanish verb to
accomplish this just to simplify thing
things and it is the verb Dar which
means to give this is a very common verb
in Spanish and you'll need to understand
this particular Construction in order to
use it correctly to translate sentences
with to give and I'm specifying that
because Dad is used in a lot of
different expressions in Spanish and
they may have different meanings that's
a topic for another video let's go back
to our examples and talk about that
first lay in the sentence did you give
the book to Maria
is an indirect object pronoun you
haven't learned those yet there's fewer
of them here they are May me yep that's
the same as a direct object that one's
going to be easy to remember right Tay
you also the same our third one is Lei
and this is going to refer to everything
in the third person he she also where
we're gonna stick usted the formal you
everything is going to be lumped
together just one word lay much easier
than direct object pronouns where you
were like low lie had to try to
determine if it was masculine or
feminine the next one is NOS us also the
same as direct object pronoun and the
last one is less that's where we're
going to stick everything plural that's
the them whether it's masculine or
feminine that is the plural you
everything is going to stick right there
at the end in life while editing this
video I discovered that there was a
section where the audio didn't come out
so I'm just going to have to drop in
some audio here sorry for the
inconvenience on that indirect optic
pronouns are used with receiving or
giving
like if you were thinking them as to him
to her to me you may not directly
translate them that way into English but
you should try to think of some
receiving or giving so let's take a
sentence like El Libro
if we know that we're talking about
Maria in this case a female then we
would translate this as you gave her the
book
or you gave the book to her that's what
that lay is going to refer to if we're
referring to a male the exact same
sentence
would be translated as you gave the book
to him or you gave him the book because
that sentence can clearly be vague
Spanish will often include the object in
a sentence just like that and you'll see
something like
you gave the book to Maria but that lay
is still there in the front which is
confusing for English speakers because
they're like I'm not translating that I
guess literally it would be like to her
you gave the book to Maria it doesn't
make sense right it's very redundant
that that lay is there and I'm
intentionally using that word because
it's called a redundant pronoun or a
redundant lay some verbs in Spanish that
involve receiving or giving of something
will use a redundant pronoun another
common verb where this happens is Seer
which is to say or to tell because
you're saying it to someone right you're
telling it to someone
did you tell Maria that I called you see
I have the lay and I still have Amaria
in there with the seed and you're gonna
see this all the time if I know from
Context that I'm talking about Maria I
can take that part out right
in English we would translate that as
did you tell her that I called that
redundant lay thing is just something
you're gonna have to accept don't try to
translate it or rationalize it with your
English just get in the habit of using
it with these two verbs in particular
once you start to use it in your Spanish
you may notice other verbs that are
doing the same thing and that's when
you're going to have that aha moment
let's play with this construction a
little bit just focusing on the verb Dar
to give see if you can translate this
one did you give Juan the book
I'm not going to give you a ton of time
to work on these Juan
iste El Libro did you get all that in
there did you remember the lay before
the verb you've got elibro in there and
you remembered your personal ah Juan
let's say we already know we're talking
about Juan so our question is going to
be did you give the book to him
think you can do that one
should have been pretty quick
that's it we just dropped aquan and in
English we were translated as did you
give the book to him all right let's
talk about our other indirect object
pronouns that look just like direct
object pronouns
these are going to be super easy to use
did you give me the book
there's nothing else to add yes
I gave you the book
the man gave us the book
El Libro just pop nose right in there
it's a piece of cake it's always going
to be clear from me de NOS who we're
referring to so there's never a reason
to add any more info super simple all
right let's get back to the one that is
going to give you the most trouble the
ones with Lei and Les so let's talk a
little bit about Les Les is the indirect
object pronoun for the plural
did you give them the info works the
same way we're going to be dropping it
in but what if you want to say did you
give the info to the men
think you can do that one
is
did you remember that personal law if
you did you're killing this this is just
you're killing it I want to talk about
that little list with the S on it
sometimes when you're practicing your
Spanish with native speakers they may
correct you in that exact same sentence
and say um lay because lay sounds better
though and the reason is is because
there is a tendency in spontaneous
speech in the majority of the
Spanish-speaking World to Change less to
lay even if it refers to the plural
information if you're writing a formal
paper you want to be really precise make
sure you keep using less but in
spontaneous speech you keep hearing lay
and you're doing that yourself you're
going to be fine so you think you've got
this down so far all right what we're
going to do is up the difficulty level
just a little bit you know we're taking
baby steps I'm kind of walking you
through it we're going to be translating
sentences like these I gave it to him I
gave it to her in other words we took
that other object from our sentence the
book or whatever it was we're talking
about and we substituted a pronoun for
it so we really have two pronouns in our
sentence the two him or to her or to
them and the it whatever we gave them
that it the book or whatever that's
going to be our direct object pronoun so
let's review those again real quick we
have May for me day you Lo for he or
masculine nouns that are singular or you
formal usted next one down is La which
means she or can mean it if it's
referring to a feminine noun NOS which
is US Los which is them or you plural
when referring to masculine items or
even a mixed group of male and female
Las is them or you plural referring to
all females and when I say you plural
I'm referring to ustedes not posotros I
don't teach vosotros because I focus
primarily on Latin American Spanish
particularly Mexico areas like that and
vosotros is not used so let's take a
sentence we had before
I gave the book to Juan we see our
redundant lay in there that's not
freaking us out anymore we know how that
works all right now we want to say is I
gave it to Juan we know we're talking
about El Libro the book we know it's
masculine so we're going to be using Lo
our direct object pronoun we just came
up with low is going to jump up there
before the conjugated verb and join the
other one and this is where we get into
word order doesn't matter what order
they're in yes it does there is a
hierarchy the first one is going to be
the indirect object pronoun then the
direct object pronoun so it's start to
look something like this the low would
pop in right after lay
we're not done yet because that is still
not a grammatically correct sentence
it's got a weird sound to it
well Spanish has already addressed this
and when you have an indirect object
pronoun and a direct object pronoun
right next to each other that lay is
going to become say
that's where that say came from so I
gave it to Juan would be
percilla is still in there and if I just
want to say I gave it to him I just
dropped ahwan
celody I gave it to him we know it's to
him because we're talking about Juan man
this is easy now if there are two people
standing there a male and a female and
you want to be specific who you're
talking about you could add their names
or you could add Aiea to her or ayel to
him take a look at that El it has an
accent over it that's what
differentiates it from El as in the
before masculine nouns when we have our
personal ah and El meaning the they
become Al but when we have a and L with
the accent meaning he they don't join
okay keep those separate so let's see if
you're starting to get a grasp of it
okay translate this one did you give
Maria the letter
did you come up with something like this
I hope so now this one yes I gave it to
her
see did you get that now try this one
and I consider this the hardest of the
three if you get this one right just pat
yourself on the back go out and take a
Victory lap and just take the rest of
the day off ready yes I gave it to Maria
remember talking about La Carta the
letter
go
did you get C yes well you should have
got that part did you get C
eladi a Maria
did you I hope you did if you did this
video was worth it if you did it's okay
it's okay I have some more practice
before the end of the video but before
we get into it let's just talk about
Mayte notes again those ones are easy
let's just let's let's go right through
them sorry had a little audio issue here
as well I'm gonna go through these
pretty quickly we're still talking about
the letter La Carta
you gave it to me melodiste
I gave it to you
Maria gave it to us Maria
so for you folks who are about being all
formal and you're going to be using
usted with this construction remember
it's just like it was with Maria and
Juan it's going to be that same one it's
going to fall under lay so let's just go
ahead and practice that if it's very
clear that I'm talking to you usted I
can leave out austed
I gave you the information about the
refund but if it's not clear I mean you
then I'm gonna have to put that austed
in there in this case in this sentence
I'm going to put it right after the verb
and I'll explain why in a second so I
get
usted
I gave you the information about the
refund our English didn't change did it
we just dropped in I was dead so it's
clear in the Spanish but I put it right
after the conjugated verb why is that
this has to do with word order
preferences in Spanish and where things
go Spanish a lot more flexible with word
order but there's still some tendencies
that that will come up and this is one
of them so let's take a look at this we
actually have two things after the verb
we want to explain the I was dead to you
and the other one's pretty long right La
information
the information about the refund we
really can't break up the information
there right it'd be really weird so in a
sentence like this we're going to put
the longer Clause after usted we're
going to stick the short one right in
here lady ostead did I give you what La
information
it sounds a lot better than sticking I
will stay way out there by itself at the
end because it's so short right that
would sound something like Lady LA
information
it's like did you just stick that way
out there no it sounds better in here
you'll get a feel for that sort of thing
as you progress in your Spanish
yes you gave it to me see if you can do
that one
you should have come up with either si
melodiste yes you gave it to me which is
in the informal 2 or if you're using the
formal you usted back to the person
yes you gave it to me now you don't
always have to use this long phrase in
response to whatever question somebody
gives you if somebody asks you something
like
to whom did you give the letter see that
ah it's right in there before can don't
forget that to whom did you give the
letter Amaria to Maria aguan a Los
Hombres to the men a las mujeres to the
women to whomever so it's practice time
now I'm going to be asking you where
something is
something and you're gonna say I gave it
or them to the person I say so donde
estanas
where are the oranges I gave them to
Maria and you fill that part in go ahead
go and try it you can do it
not too hard right
where's the car I gave it to Juan
donde estan Los papeles where are the
papers I gave them to the professor
did you use Al that's the personal ah
plus the L got together
where are the strawberries
I gave them to you informal you too
all right let's tweak that just a little
bit you gave them to me talking about
the strawberries I don't remember
where's the money I gave you yesterday
just because that's longer don't get
freaked out okay I gave it to my
boyfriend or I gave it to my girlfriend
your choice
I gave it to my boyfriend
I gave it to my girlfriend before we
head out for the day let's just go ahead
and throw they hide in there remember to
leave and this should seem super easy
after those complex constructions when I
asked
where are the keys you left them in the
kitchen think you can do that one
it's a piece of cake wasn't it well I
hope you enjoyed the lesson if you did
do me a favor and give it a thumbs up
and until next time hasta luego
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