Subject Singular Plural

First person me  (to/for me) nos  (to/for us)

Second person te  (to/for informal you) os  (to/for formal you)

Third person le  (to/for it, him, her, formal you) les  (to/for them, formal you)

Notice that none of the indirect pronouns vary according to gender.

Finding the Indirect Object Pronoun

 

You can find the indirect object in a sentence by asking yourself to whom or for whom an action was done. For example, to find the indirect object in the following sentence , you could ask yourself For whom did Gabriel buy a rose? The answer is For Anita. Therefore, the indirect object is Anita, and the matching indirect object pronoun is le.

 

Gabriel le compró una rosa a Anita.

Gabriel bought a rose for Anita.

 

Gabriel le compró una rosa.

Gabriel bought a rose for her.

 

Using Indirect Object Pronouns and Indirect Objects Together

 

In Spanish, it's common for both an indirect object pronoun and the noun to which it refers to appear together. In the example below, Juan is the indirect object. The indirect object pronoun le can be used with the indirect object (as in the first example), or without it (as in the second example).

 

Samuel le tiró la pelota a Juan.

Samuel threw the ball to Juan.

 

Samuel le tiró la pelota.

Samuel threw the ball to him.

 

Because the third person indirect object pronoun is gender neutral, it is common to maintain the indirect object phrase in the sentence for clarification.

 

Even without a Juan, le still indicates to whom the direct object (la pelota) is thrown. However, because third person indirect object pronouns do not indicate gender, this sentence could also mean:

 

Samuel threw the ball to her.

Samuel threw the ball to it.

Samuel threw the ball to you.

To avoid confusion, Spanish speakers will often clarify to whom a pronoun refers by using both the indirect object and the indirect object pronoun.

 

Verbs that Take an Indirect Object

 

Below is a list of verbs that often take a person as an indirect object in Spanish.

 

Spanish English

comprar(le) algo

 

to buy something for someone

contar(le) algo

 

to tell something to someone

dar(le) algo

 

to give something to someone

decir(le) algo

 

to say something to someone

escribir(le) algo

 

to write something to someone

mandar(le) algo

 

to send something to someone

mostrar(le) algo

 

to show something to someone

pedir(le) algo

 

to ask something of someone

regalar(le) algo

 

to give (a gift) to someone

servir(le) algo

 

to serve something to someone

traer(le) algo

 

to bring something to someone

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