Lesson 14 - Verb Object Pronouns

In Lesson 13 we looked at verb objects in Spanish. In this lesson we will look at verb object pronouns - small words that function as objects, but are shorter than the nouns or names that you might otherwise use.

Verb Object Pronouns. Spanish has an extensive system of verb object pronouns, similar to the the English object pronouns me, him, her, them, us. They substitute for the noun referred to (Pedro, mi hermano, la gata, and so on).

Table of Pronouns (click here). Here is a presentation of the pronouns. Note that in the third person, some forms are the same for both singular and plural. This table also includes prepositional object pronouns (to him, for her, etc.).

Alphabetical Index of Pronouns and Possessive Adjectives (click here). This is an original tool created for this book/course.

Location of Verb Object Pronouns. In contrast with other sentence elements, the positions of verb object pronouns are rigid. As we will see, this rigidity is necessary to avoid ambiguity in their meaning.

You will find verb object pronouns in two locations:

• Immediately preceding a true verb (a form with person and number)
  • La veo todos los días. (I see her every day.)
  • Me dieron unas botellas de vino. (They gave me some bottles of wine.)
    
• After and attached to an infinitive, present participle, or positive command (commands have not yet been presented).
  • Voy a comerlo. (I am going to eat it.)
  • Estaban probándolo. (They were testing it, or trying it on. The accent is added, following regular rules, to indicate the stressed syllable, now that the word is a syllable longer due to the addition of the pronoun.)
    
• There is no difference at all in meaning between Lo van a estudiar and Van a estudiarlo. This is a contrast with the location of adjectives, where the adjective's location (before or after the noun it modifies) can have a small effect on the meaning.

Potential Ambiguity in Verb Object Pronouns. The Redundant Object Pronoun. Any pronoun requires context to give it meaning. The words "I," "him," "them," by themselves are without fixed meaning. In addition, in Spanish, some of the pronouns serve several functions. For example, le can mean to him, to her, to it (indirect objects), and, in Spain, him and usted (direct objects).

If the context does not make clear the meaning of a pronoun, the pronoun is explained by using an expressed object. That is: in addition to the pronoun, there is a stated object (the person or thing the object pronoun was to replace).

• La vi a mi hermana. ("I saw my sister." Given a context in which La vi by itself is unclear, the direct object phrase "a mi hermana" is added. (Note that it is begun by the non-translatable "a" that serves as a direct object marker with people.)
• Les dije a todos la verdad. ("I told all of them the truth." La verdad is direct object, todos the indirect object, les an indirect object pronoun.)
• Los libros los tengo en la casa. ("I have the books at home." Los libros and los are both the direct object of the verb.)

One may well wonder what purpose it serves to use a pronoun at all, if it so ambiguous that it needs to be clarified. In the first example above, the direct object pronoun la adds nothing that is not contained in a mi hermana.

In fact this use of a verb object pronoun serves no purpose related to meaning or efficiency of communication. For this reason it is called the "redundant object pronoun." Spanish speakers and writers simply "like" to use verb object pronouns.

• The above examples all deal with the third person. In the case of the first and second person, since there is no ambiguity in the object pronouns me and te, and only minor potential for ambiguity with nos and os, addition of a explanatory prepositional phrase serves to emphasize the pronoun. (It is the same as the use of a first or second person subject pronoun for emphasis).
  • ¿Me lo dice a mí? (You're saying that to me?)
• If the meaning of the third person pronoun is already clear from the context, the use of the prepositional phrase plus object pronoun also serves to emphasize the object.
  • ¿Pedro? A él le vi por la mañana. (Pedro? I saw him in the morning.)

Reflexive Pronouns. The reflexive pronoun is used when the object is the same as the subject. Therefore, it always agrees in person and number with the verb. A reflexive pronoun can be used with any verb whose meaning permits it.

The reflexive pronouns are identical with the direct and indirect verb object pronouns in the first and second person (me, te, nos, os). Also, the third person reflexive pronoun, se, is both singular and plural, and is also the same as the substitute indirect object se just given above.

Tip: se used alone is always a reflexive pronoun. The indirect object usage above is only in combinations of pronouns.

Second tip: if the object pronoun matches the subject in person and number, it is a reflexive pronoun.

Types of reflexives.

• The true reflexive. The subject performs an action on him- her-, or itself.
  • Me preparé bien para el examen. (I prepared myself well for the exam.)
  • Me considero preparado. (I consider myself prepared.)
  
  
• Volition. Sometimes the reflexive communicates an aspect of volition, a suggestion that the action of the verb was deliberate and desired.
  • Él se fue. (Not he went, but he left.)
  • Se durmieron temprano. ("They fell asleep early"; distinguish from the non-reflexive use of dormir. Durmieron poco, they slept little. The former has more sense of volition or purpose in it; the second is a simple statement.)
  
  
• Reciprocal action. A plural reflexive is used to indicate reciprocal action, rather than several people performing reflexive acts, each on his- or herself..
  • Se quieren mucho. (They love each other a lot. NOT: He loves himself and she loves herself a lot.)
  • Nos escribimos todas las semanas. (We write each other every week. NOT: I write myself, and he writes himself, every week.)
  
  
• Impersonal statements. A very common usage of the reflexive is to make an impersonal statement, to say something happens without specifying who carries out the action. The key is that there does not appear to be a subject for the verb. There is no English equivalent to this common construction, which is similar to the subjectless verb, as in "Hablan español." The English passive is often the best translation:
  • Se habla español aquí. (Spanish is spoken here.)
  • Se dice que... (It is said that...)
• Another possible translation is the impersonal subject pronoun "one":
  • Se llega al aeropuerto por la autopista. (One reaches the airport [by travelling] on the expressway.)
  • En los barrios pobres, se tiene hambre. (In the poor neighborhoods, one is hungry.)
  
  
• The reflexive without any clear meaning. Often there is no apparent "sense" to the use of the reflexive, and it is not translated. These verbs are found in the dictionary only with the "se" pronoun on the end of the infinitive, meaning that the use of the reflexive pronoun is required. The verb is not used without it.
  • Se desayunaron a las ocho. (They ate breakfast at eight o'clock. Originally - centuries ago - desayunar was "to break a fast," an action one could perform on onesself.)
  
  
• Change of meaning with the reflexive. With some verbs, the addition of a reflexive pronoun changes the meaning somewhat. Dictionaries usually will list reflexive meanings (meanings when the verb is used with a reflexive pronoun) after the main meaning of a verb. For example (this is from the University of Chicago Dictionary):

crecer v. irr. to grow; to increase, -se to swell (as a river); to become or feel important.

• The se ending found on an infinitive in the dictionary indicates that what follows is the meaning of the verb used with a reflexive pronoun. (It does not mean that only the pronoun se is used, nor does it mean that only verbs so marked can be used reflexively.)
  There is no simple way to tell if the meaning has changed with the addition of a reflexive, other than consulting the dictionary. However, the change is usually subtle or minor, and can often be guessed. For example, acabar is "to finish," as in to finish a task. Can you guess the meaning of Se acabó el café? (Click here for the answer.)

Colorful uses of the reflexive pronoun.

• Parts of the body and articles of clothing. With parts of the body and articles of clothing, possessive adjectives (mi, su, etc.) are not normally used. The reflexive pronoun serves the purpose of indicating whose body or clothing it is. With pains or pleasant feelings, the body part producing the sensation is the subject, and the person is the indirect object:
  • Le duele la garganta. (His/her throat hurts.)
  • Me duelen los pies. (My feet hurt; literally "my feet cause pain to me.")
• With actions involving parts of the body or clothing, the person doing the action is the subject, and the reflexive pronoun indicates that he/she performs the action on him- or herself.
  • ¿Se lavó las manos? (Did he, she, or you wash his/ her/your hands?)
  • Se quitó el sombrero. (He/she took off his/her hat.)
• If the action is performed on someone else's body or clothing, a possessive adjective may be used:
  • Le quitó sus zapatos. (He/she took off his/her - someone else's - shoes.)

Unexpected negative events. With unexpected negative events, it is common to make the inanimate article an autonomous agent performing a reflexive action in itself, with the person as the indirect recipient of the action:

• Se me olvidaron los libros. ("I forgot the books," but shifting the fault to the books. Literally "the books forgot themselves to me.")
• Se me cayó. (It fell "on" me, i.e. it fell and now I have to deal with it. Literally "it dropped itself to me." Me is the indirect object.)

Multiple Verb Object Pronouns. When there is more than one object pronoun, their sequence is fixed: reflexive, indirect, direct. (Thus the order used in the Table of Pronouns.) This is true whether they precede the verb as separate words, or are written at the end of the verb as endings. The rigid order allows the type of pronoun to be identified.

• The most common pair is indirect object + direct object.
  • José nos lo da. (José gives it [direct object] to us [indirect object]. If the order were not fixed, one could not tell which object pronoun was which.)
  • Ya te lo dije. (I already said it [direct object] to you [indirect object].)
• Also common is the combination reflexive + indirect.
  • Se me dice que... (It has been said to me that...)
    
• IMPORTANT: When a third person indirect object pronoun (beginning with l-) comes immediately before a third person direct object pronoun (also beginning with l-), the indirect object pronoun is se (see table). Note that se is both singular and plural.
  • Se lo digo. (I tell it [direct object] to him, her, it, them, usted or ustedes [indirect object].)
  • Ella se los compra. (She buys them [direct object] from him, her, it, them, ustedor ustedes [indirect object].)
  • Se lo doy a ella. (Se and a ella refer to the same person; a ella makes it clear that se means to her and not to him/you/them/usted/ustedes.)
  • Queremos confesárselo. (We want to confess it to him, her, it, or you.)
  • Van a dárselo. (They are going to give it - lo - to him/her/them/usted/ustedes - se.)

Location of verb object pronouns in formal writing. In formal writing or oratory, object pronouns can be found on the end of almost any verb forms. Formal writing is much more common in Spanish than in English, and can be found in many political writings, speeches, opinion pieces like a column in a newspaper, and so on. Only rarely would object pronouns be used in this way in a research article, or in conversation. (The presentation of this fairly common feature is another unique characteristic of this book.)

• "Propúseme trabajar en el Archivo de Indias una o dos semanas...¡y me pasé allí, como encantado, más de dos meses! ("I proposed to myself to work in the Archive of the Indies [the Western hemisphere] one or two weeks... and I spent there, as if enchanted, more than two months!" Note that the reflexive pronoun me with pasé suggests the volition involved in staying there - he spent this time there deliberately.)
• "Examinado aquellos venerables papeles siéntese, en realidad de verdad, una dulce tristeza." ("Looking at those venerable papers one feels, in truthful reality, a sweet sadness." This and the previous quotation are from Francisco Rodríguez Marín. Click here for bibliographical information.)

• Identifying pronouns on the end of verb forms other than infinitive and gerund. It is not hard to identify object pronouns on the end of infinitives and gerunds. The ending will be preceded by the -ar/-er/-ir of the infinitive, or the -ando/-iendo of the gerund.
  
  Object pronouns are also used on the end of other verb forms, most often with commands and in main clauses. A verb object pronoun can be distinguished from a verb ending by the following principle: verbs with object pronouns on the end are usually accented two syllables before the end, with a written accent.
  • díjole (decir + le) - 3s said to him or her
  • dícese (decir + se) - it is said
  • érase (ser + se) - once upon a time
  • Exceptions: the first and third person singular of the preterit of regular verbs; one-syllable verbs, of which there are few.
    • hablóle (He/she spoke to him/her. hablar + le)
    • sélo (I know it; saber + lo; also Be it; ser + lo)
  • In other instances, if the stress is on the next to the last syllable, what might seem a possible verb object pronoun is actually the ending of the verb:
    • suele — present tense of soler (to be in the habit of) not the pronoun le
    • siente — present tense of sentir (to feel or be sorry for) not the pronoun te
    • tose — present tense of toser (to cough), not the pronoun se
    • redime — present tense of redimir (to redeem) not the pronoun me

Exercise. Determine the meaning of each of the following:

1. Estaba diciéndome la verdad.
2. Quieren quitárnoslo.
3. Hízomelo mi madre.
4. ¿Dístesela?
5. Lo guardó para sí.
6. Sonrióme al verme. (A = at, upon)
7. Decíase que el ejército iraquí era flojo.
8. Entre aquellos pobres, comíase todo lo comestible.

Click here to go to the translations of the sentences above.

Lectura 7: Santa Teresa, fundadora de conventos

In this reading, the author paints a picture of a moment of Spain's history, at a time of religious reform in the sixteenth century. He accentuates the difficulties Santa Teresa, faced and the harshness of Castile. Santa Teresa was a religious reformer, founding convents on her own initiative. She was also arguably a feminist (though she would have never said so).

This is the first reading that is taken from a published source, rather than written by the author of this text. The author, Francisco Martínez Ruiz, used the pseudonym Azorín (little hawk). It is taken from his Una hora de España, Chapter 16. It was written in 1924. (There is a student edition of this book published in 1993 by Editorial Castalia, Madrid. The ISBN is 8470396765; a bookseller can find it from this number. There is an English translation, An Hour of Spain, but it was last published in 1933. It could be obtained through interlibrary loan.)

A la caída de la tarde ha llegado el carrito⁽¹⁾ a la ciudad. Han descendido del carro una religiosa⁽²⁾ y una compañera. Salieron por la mañana⁽³⁾ de otro pueblo. Han caminado durante todo el día. El viento sopla frío por la llanura. La religiosa va un poco enferma. A media tarde, la religiosa y su compañera han sacado de un zurrón un cantero⁽⁴⁾ de pan y un pedacito⁽⁵⁾ de queso y han comido. Está un poco enferma la religiosa; el viento frío del otoño le hace daño en la⁽⁶⁾ garganta. No cesa de caminar por toda España la buena religiosa⁽⁷⁾; va de pueblecito⁽⁸⁾ en pueblecito y de ciudad en ciudad; habla con frailes, monjas y prelados. Para todos tiene palabras afectuosas. Sus ojos son negros y redondos. "Ojos--dice el padre Ribera⁽⁹⁾--vivos y graciosos, que en riéndose⁽¹⁰⁾ se reían todos⁽¹¹⁾ y mostraban alegría; y por otra parte, muy graves cuando ella quería mostrar en el rostro gravedad." La complexión⁽¹²⁾ de la religiosa es fuerte. "No soy nada tierna--dice ella hablando de sí⁽¹³⁾--; antes⁽¹⁴⁾ tengo un corazón tan recio, que algunas veces me da pena." Recio, no para los humanos, sino para las adversidades. Pero hoy es el día en que la esforzada religiosa va a sentirse un tantico⁽¹⁵⁾ desazonada. No le han hecho⁽¹⁶⁾ perder la serenidad los trabajos y la hostilidad de los hombres, y hoy por una cosita⁽¹⁷⁾ de nada va a estar a pique de perderla.

El carro ha llegado a la ciudad. La religiosa y su compañera no conocen en ella⁽¹⁸⁾ a nadie. En el pueblo de donde vienen les han dado⁽¹⁹⁾ vagas indicaciones sobre lo que desean.⁽²⁰⁾ El carro va dando vueltas por las calles; a veces se detiene, y el carretero⁽²¹⁾ interroga a las gentes. Y otra vez comienza a caminar. La hermana que va con la religiosa es sorda; a la monja, su mal de garganta le ha quitado la voz. No pueden entenderse⁽²²⁾ una y otra cuando hablan.

El carro se ha detenido ante una casa. ¿Será ésta⁽²³⁾ la casa donde van a fundar un pequeño convento? La puerta está abierta; al zaguán se sube por dos escalones; está encalado.⁽²⁴⁾ Las paredes son de un blanco puro. A la derecha se abre una puertecilla;⁽²⁵⁾ da paso a una camarilla⁽²⁶⁾ en que hay una tinaja y dos cántaros.⁽²⁷⁾ A la izquierda, por otros dos escalones, se sube a un breve corredor. Al cabo del pasillo se encuentra un patio rodeado⁽²⁸⁾ de alta galería.⁽²⁹⁾ El techo del zaguán está formado por viguetas⁽³⁰⁾ cuadradas que sostienen anchas tablas. La galería del patio es de madera. La madera del techo y la madera de la galería, en contraste con la nítida cal,⁽³¹⁾ aparecen negruzcas⁽³²⁾ y ahumadas.⁽³³⁾

Muchas generaciones, desde la Edad Media, han pasado por esta pobre morada. Las catedrales y los palacios son grandes y ostentosos; los nombres de quienes han levantado las catedrales y de quienes han morado en los palacios, tal vez han pasado a la Historia.⁽³⁴⁾ Pero en estas casas humildes, a lo largo de los siglos, han vivido generaciones de gentes que han trabajado y sufrido en silencio. Y estas paredes blancas y estas maderas ahumadas, anodinas,⁽³⁵⁾ sin primores artísticos, vulgares, llegan acaso a producir una emoción más honda, más inefable que⁽³⁶⁾ los maravillosos monumentos.

Click here for the translation of this reading.

NOTES

1. -ito is a diminutive ending, to be discussed shortly. It makes the word carro smaller.

2. This is a adjective (religioso) that has been turned into a noun through the addition of an article: "a religious person." (There is no noun for religiosa to modify.) Note that religiosa and compañera are the subjects of "han descendido." In English, religious is sometimes a noun (member of a religious order), especially used by religious writers.

3. Por tells the way something is done: "in the morning." Mañana by itself is "tomorrow," but when it is modified, as in la mañana, esta mañana, una mañana, it means "morning."

4. A crust. Note that "zurrón" (pouch ) is part of the prepositional phrase "de un zurrón". The phrase ends with "zurrón"; "un cantero" is the object of the verb "han sacado."

5. Note the diminutive suffix -ito (later in this text -cito and -ecito). The z in pedazo (a piece) has changed to c because the following vowel has changed from o to i.

6. her throat. The indirect object pronoun (le) often indicates the ownership of parts of the body or articles of clothing.

7. Here is your subject (religiosa). It is also the subject of va.

8. The diminutive suffix -ito sometimes replaces a final vowel with e and adds the consonant c. "Little town."

9. The article "el" is not translated. Father Ribera was an early biographer of Saint Teresa.

10. Present participle of reír, with reflexive pronoun on the end. The "e" of the stem changes to "i," but as the ending begins with "i" the two "i"s combine. Double unaccented i or u are not permitted in Spanish. En riéndose: when (her eyes are) laughing.

11. Everyone; the subject.

12. To say her complexion is strong makes no sense, so complexión does not mean complexion. Try to guess before you look it up.

13. Herself; reflexive third person object of a preposition; also can mean himself, itself, themselves, yourself (polite), yourselves (polite).

14. Rather

15. -ico is another, more colloquial diminutive ending: "a tiny bit."

16. The subjects of the plural verb are trabajos and hostilidad. Serenidad is the object of perder.

17. "A little thing," using the diminutive -ito suffix. Una cosita de nada, a little nothing. Por: "because of," "from."

18. Look backwards for the noun the pronoun ella refers to. It must be feminine singular, so it would not be referring to the pair "religiosa" and "compañera." In the previous sentence you will find the feminine singular noun "ciudad," which is what "ella" refers to. Translation is "do not know anyone in it (the city)."

19. Subjectless third person plural; an equivalent to the English passive. "They were given."

20. Lo que = that which. The subject of desean is the two women.

21. The suffix -ero creates an ocupation: zapato shoe, zapatero, shoemaker or shoe repairman; camión truck, camionero truckdriver; casamiento marriage, casamentero, matchmaker. Carreta is a cart, so carretero is the one who drives the cart.

22. Reciprocal reflexive. "They cannot understand each other."

23. Can this be? Ésta is the subject of the verb será (a future form of ser).

24. A past participle used adjectivally: "whitewashed." The verb encalar was created from the root cal, lime or whitewash.

25. -illa is another diminutive suffix. With some words, suffixes are preceded by a c or d.

26. Cámara can be a photographic camera, but here has the archaic meaning of "room." The -illo ending, as in the English "cigarillo," makes it smaller.

27. Tinaja: a large earthenware jug for water. Cántaro: a pitcher.

28. A past participle used as an adjective. Look up the infinitive.

29. An interior hallway. In traditional Spanish buildings such as this, it is a balcony surrounding an interior courtyard.

30. -ete (here in its feminine form -eta), a diminutive attached to viga, beam.

31. Note that in this instance, the adjective comes first, followed by the noun. When this happens, the adjective is less vital than it is than when it follows the noun.

32. The suffix -uzco means having some of the qualities of, like English -ish (bluish, sixish).

33. Past participle used as an adjective. (Only as an adjective, not as a verb form, can a -do past participle form change gender or number.) The verb ahumar is formed on the root of humo, smoke. Presumably the boards are discolored from candle smoke.

34. The capital "H" on "Historia" has the same function as it would in English, if "History" were capitalized: "history with a capital 'H,'" "'real' history."

35. Ordinary, uninteresting.

36. The comparative: more…than…

Translation of the sentences of Exercise:

1. He/she/Ud. was telling me the truth.
2. They/Uds. want to take it away from us. (Lo, "it," is the direct object; nos is the indirect object. Because of the meaning of the verb quitar, "from" is the correct preposition.)
3. My mother did it to me. (Madre cannot be the object because it has no preposition in front of it; therefore it is the subject.)
4. Did you (tú) give it (fem.) to him/her/it/them.
5. He/she kept it (masculine) for him/herself.
6. He/she smiled at me upon seeing me.
7. It was said that the Iraqi army was week.
8. Among those poor people, everything eatable was eaten. (The "se" on the end of "comía" is the impersonal third person reflexive "se.")

Go back to questions.

Source for Francisco Rodríguez Marín quotes. From the article "El archivo general de Indias," first published in Cultura Hispano-americana, 1913. Taken from the reproduction in Artículos periodísticos de D. Francisco Rodríguez Marín (1855-1943) (Madrid, 1957), p. 3.

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Se acabó el café.

Translation: The coffee ran out, there was no more. Literally, "the coffee finished itself": no one person caused it to run out, it just happened.

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This page Copyright © 1998 Daniel Eisenberg. Please report errors or omissions: daniel.eisenberg@bigfoot.com. ¡Mil gracias!