Double Object Pronouns
Double Object Pronouns
When a sentence has both a direct and an indirect object pronoun, Spanish stacks them together in a fixed order — and quietly swaps one of them for a completely different word.
Grammar Comparison
Grammar Comparison
Indirect before direct, always
me lo da (he gives it to me) — indirect (me) always comes first, direct (lo) second
he gives it to me — English word order doesn't stack two pronouns before the verb at all
When both pronoun types appear together, the indirect object pronoun always comes first, immediately followed by the direct object pronoun, both still sitting before the conjugated verb. English never places two object pronouns in a row before the verb like this — it's a genuinely new sentence shape to practice.
Le/les become se before lo/la/los/las
se lo doy (I give it to him) — not 'le lo doy'
no equivalent — nothing swaps in English's version of this sentence
Le and les can never stand directly in front of lo, la, los, or las — Spanish replaces them with se in that exact position, purely to avoid the awkward sound of 'le lo'. This se has nothing to do with reflexive verbs; it's just a substitution rule to memorize for whenever both pronoun types collide.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
- English
- he gives it to me
- English
- I tell it to you
- English
- I give it to him/her
- English
- I send it to him/her
- English
- he explains it to us
- English
- he brings them to me
- English
- I sell them to him/her
- English
- I lend it to you
- English
- I ask him/her for it
- English
- give it to me