LOS COMPLEMENTOS DIRECTOS

(DIRECT OBJECT PRONOUNS)

Direct objects

In this presentation we are going to look at another set of pronouns. To begin with, think of one way of completing each sentence:

I saw _______. I ate ________. I drank ______. I met ________.

Direct objects

Did you come up with something similar to these?

I saw Mary. I ate the broccoli. I drank a glass of Kool-Aid. I met your parents.

Whatever you put into the blanks is a direct object.

Direct object pronouns

Now let’s substitute a D.O. pronoun for each noun.

I saw Mary. >> I saw her. I ate the broccoli. >> I ate it. I drank a glass of Kool-Aid. >> I drank it. I met your parents. >> I met them.

Direct object pronouns

Masc. Fem.

Sing. lo la

Plural los las

Masc. Fem.

Sing. it it

Plural them them

La, la, la, la!

Now look at these sentences: ¿Dónde compraste el diccionario? ___ compré en Amazon.com.

¿Dónde está mi pluma? ___ dejaste [you left it] en la mesa.

¿Dónde están los caramelos? ___ comí.

Let’s practice!

¿Dónde está mi cuaderno?

____ dejaste [you left it] encima del escritiorio.

Ah, sí, ____ veo. Gracias.

¡Qué bien!

¿Dónde está mi cuaderno?Lo dejaste encima del escritiorio.

Ah, sí, lo veo. Gracias.“el” cuaderno > lo

Lo entiendo!-¿Vas a hacer todos los quehaceres?-Creo que sí -¿Cuándo hiciste la cama?-____ hice a las 8:00.-¿Sacaste la basura?-Claro, ya ____ saqué.-¿Dónde están los platos?-____ lavé en el lavaplatos.-¿Y el césped?-Ya ____ corté.

¿Qué tal lo hiciste?-¿Hiciste todos los quehaceres?-Creo que sí -¿Cuándo hiciste la cama?-La hice a las 8:00.-¿Sacaste la basura?-Claro, ya la saqué.-¿Dónde están los platos?-Los lavé en el lavaplatos.-¿Y el césped?-Ya lo corté.

Los complementos indirectos

(Indirect Object Pronouns)

To sum it up…We’ve seen three types of pronouns so far:

Subject: yo, tú, él… Direct object: me, te, lo, la…

In this slide show, we are going to look at one more type: indirect objects.

What’s an indirect object?Did you say something like:

Bill Gates sent me a million dollars.

The teacher gave you an A. My parents bought my little

sister a used car. Julia told everyone the big

secret.

Indirect objectsThe indirect objects in these sentences are the people who received something: you, me, my little sister, everyone.The first two objects use pronouns – me, you . Can you guess what the Spanish equivalents are?

That’s right! My parents bought my

little sister a used car. Julia told everyone the big

secret.

The objects can be replaced with the indirect object pronouns – her, them. What are the Spanish equivalents?

Hmm, this looks familiar!her > lethem > les

We’ve seen this form before when we looked at gustar.

Some common verbsIndirect objects are used together with verbs such as:

Dar (give) Enviar (send) Comprar (buy) Mandar (send) Decir (tell) Regalar (give a gift)

Here are the forms!The indirect object pronouns are:

me nos

te os

le les

¡Vamos a practicar!Complete each sentence with an appropriate indirect object pronoun. The recipient for each sentence is provided.

[Recipient: me] Mis padres ___ enviaron (sent) $100 para comprar un vestido nuevo.

Otro, por favor.[Recipient: you] ¿ ___ enviaron tus padres dinero también?

What if there is more than one of “you (formal)” ?¿ ___ enviaron sus padres dinero también?

Use the “Uds.” form!

Muy bien.[Recipient: her]

Diego ___ compró un anillo a Luisa.

Can you give us another?[Recipient: us]

La profesora de antropología ___ da mucha tarea.

Double trouble.

Juan/comprar/un regalo/for you.

Let’s create an example!

Juan te compró un regalo.Juan te lo compró.

The Clarifier

Sometimes we are uncertain who is receiving the action, it appears ambiguous, so…We add a prepositional phrase to make it clear who is receiving the action:Ellos le llamaron ayer.

The Clarifier cont’d…

Ellos le llamaron ayer.So who did they call yesterday, it could be him, her, or you (formal).Therefore to make sure we know who is receiving the action we add the clarifier:

Ellos le llamaron a Marco ayer.

The Clarifiers

A mi = A nosotros =

A ti = A vosotros =

A él/ella = A ellos/ellas =

¡Ya está!To summarize, here are the four forms you will need for Spanish:Subject Reflexive Direct objectIndirect objectyo me me metú te te teél se lo leella se la leUd. se lo, la lenosotros nos nos nosvosotros os os osellos se los lesellas se las les