Las 5 claves para usar bien los pronombres lo, la, los, las, le, les y se

What are the pronouns lo, la, los, le, le and se ?
How many times have you seen or heard these “little words” called pronouns? Surely you have heard and read these words thousands of times since your first contact with Spanish.
Quiet because today we are going to discover in 5 simple steps how to use it, the, the, the, the, you and be without confusion.
Therefore, in this post we want to help you understand why what, the, the, the, the, you and se (known as direct object pronouns and indirect pronouns) are such usual, necessary and useful words in Spanish.
If you follow the 5 keys that you will see below, you will not have problems with these pronouns again:
1. Understand what is a direct object and an indirect object:
a) Direct object:
Person, animal or thing that receives direct action from the verb. Normally, they go after the verb and have no preposition (except the direct object formed by A + PERSON).
To identify the direct object, we can ask the verb what? or who?
Example:
– Luisa bought bread at the market.
We ask the verb what did Luisa buy? → bread
– I saw Luisa in the market.
We ask the verb, who did I see? → to Luisa
b) Indirect object:
Person, animal or thing that benefits from the action of the verb. Normally, they are animated beings and carry the preposition A or FOR.
To identify the indirect object, we can ask the verb who / who or for whom / who?
Example:
– Luisa bought bread for her mother.
We ask the verb, who did Luisa buy bread for? → for his mother
2. Know your classification:
Lo, the, the, the, you, you, and are pronouns that are classified into two groups accordingtheir function are:
a) Direct object pronouns: LO, LA, LOS Y LAS
They replace the direct object and change its shape according to its gender (male or female) and number (singular or plural).
Examples:
– Luisa bought bread in the market → bread = masc. sing. → LO
– Luisa bought milk in the market → milk = fem. sing. → LA
– Luisa bought bread in the market → bread = masc. plu. → LOS
– Luisa bought potatoes in the market → potatoes = fem. plu → LAS
b) Indirect object pronouns: LE, LES Y SE
They replace the indirect object and change its shape according to its number (regardless of gender).
Examples:
– Luisa bought bread for her mother / father → for her mother / father = fem. sing. / masc.sing → LE
– Luisa bought bread for her parents / sisters → for her parents / sisters = masc. plu./fem.plu. → LES
3. Learn why and when you should use these pronouns:
We use these pronouns to avoid repeating excessively words already mentioned above.
In addition, we must use the when our interlocutor is able to understand who or what we mean because you know what we mean.
Examples:
– Luisa bought bread, cheese and milk at the market. He bought them before going to the hairdresser.
– Luisa bought bread, cheese and eggs for her mother . He bought bread, cheese and eggs.
4. Place the pronouns correctly in the sentence:
When replacing pronouns, you should know that they will be placed BEFORE the conjugated verbs.
Example:
– I saw Luisa in the park → The saw in the park.
– Luisa compró pan para su madre → Luisa le compró pan.
Y se colocarán de forma opcional DELANTE del verbo conjugado o DETRÁS del verbo y unido a él en las formas de gerundio o infinitivo en las construcciones verbales de este tipo.
Ejemplo:
– INFINITIVO: Fui a ver a Luisa a su casa → Fui a verla / La fui a ver.
– GERUNDIO: Luisa está comprando pan para su madre → Luisa le está comprando pan / Luisa está comprándole pan.
5. ¡CUIDADO cuando quieres utilizar los dos pronombres juntos!
Uno de los casos más comunes es encontrar los dos pronombres juntos o necesitar combinar ambos pronombres. En el caso de querer sustituir ambos pronombres en la misma oración (objeto directo e indirecto) debes seguir este orden:
OBJETO INDIRECTO (LE/LES/SE) + OBJETO DIRECTO (LO/LA/LOS/LAS)
Ejemplo:
– Luisa compró pan para su madre.
¿Qué compró Luisa? → pan = Objeto directo = LO
¿Para quién compró pan Luisa? → para su madre = Objeto indirecto = LE
Si reescribimos esta oración sustituyendo los pronombres adecuados y en el orden indicado, el resultado sería:
– Luisa *le lo compró.
Sin embargo, supongo que esta oración te resulta un poco “rara”. Por eso, en los casos en los que queremos sustituir los pronombres de objeto directo e indirecto de 3ª persona en una misma frase, siempre cambiaremos el pronombre de objeto indirecto LE o LES por el pronombre SE, como en el ejemplo siguiente:
– Luisa se lo compró.
Otro ejemplo:
– Voy a regalar flores a mi madre → Se las voy a regalar / Voy a regalárselas.
¡Esto es todo por hoy! Con estas 5 claves podrás empezar a usar correctamente estas “pequeñas palabras”. Recuerda que necesitas mucha práctica oral y escrita para controlar su uso.
If you need more practice, we can help you in our online Spanish classes . In the previous link, you will find the reasons why studying Spanish online is a good choice.
See you in the next post.
See you soon!
AJ