Spanish object pronouns
Spanish object pronouns are Spanish personal pronouns that take the function of an object in a sentence. They may be analyzed as clitics which cannot function independently, but take the conjugated form of the Spanish verb. Object pronouns are generally proclitic, i.e. they appear before the verb of which they are the object; enclitic pronouns appear with positive imperatives, infinitives, and gerunds.
In Spanish, up to two clitic pronouns can be used with a single verb, generally one accusative and one dative. They follow a specific order based primarily on person. When an accusative third-person non-reflexive pronoun is used with a dative pronoun that is understood to also be third-person non-reflexive. Simple non-emphatic clitic doubling is most often found with dative clitics, although it is occasionally found with accusative clitics as well, particularly in case of topicalization. In many dialects in Central Spain, including that of Madrid, there exists one of the variants of leísmo, which is using the indirect object pronoun le for the object pronoun where most other dialects would use lo or la for the object pronoun.
History
As the history of the Spanish language saw the shedding of Latin declensions, only the subject and prepositional object survived as independent personal pronouns in Spanish: the rest became clitics. These clitics may be proclitic or enclitic, or doubled for emphasis. In modern Spanish, the placement of clitic pronouns is determined morphologically by the form of the verb. Clitics precede most conjugated verbs but come after infinitives, gerunds, and positive imperatives. For example: me vio but verme, viéndome, ¡véame! Exceptions exist for certain idiomatic expressions, like "once upon a time".Case | Latin | Spanish |
1st sg. | EGŌ MIHI MĒ MĒCUM | yo mí me conmigo |
1st pl. | NŌS | nosotros, nosotras nos |
2nd sg. | TŪ TIBI TĒ TĒCUM | tú ti te contigo |
2nd pl. | VŌS | vosotros, vosotras os |
3rd sg. | ILLE, ILLA, ILLUD ILLĪ ILLUM, ILLAM, ILLUD | él/ella/ello le lo/la |
3rd pl. | ILLĪ, ILLAE, ILLA ĬLLĪS ILLŌS, ILLĀS, ILLA | ellos/ellas les los/las |
3rd refl. | SIBI SĒ/SĒSĒ SĒCUM | sí se consigo |
Old Spanish
Unstressed pronouns in Old Spanish were governed by rules different from those in modern Spanish. The old rules were more determined by syntax than by morphology: the pronoun followed the verb, except when the verb was preceded by a stressed word, such as a noun, adverb, or stressed pronoun.For example, from Cantar de Mio Cid:
- e tornós pora su casa, ascóndense de mio Cid
- non lo desafié, aquel que gela diesse
- daregelo he = "I'll give it to him".
- daregelo ia/ie = "I would give it."
- dado gelo ha = "He has given it."
- Fuese el conde = "The count left", but
- El conde se fue = "The count left"
- No se fue el conde = "The count did not leave"
- Entonces se fue el conde = "Then the count left".
- Verme ha mañana = "See me tomorrow", but
- No me verá mañana = "He will not see me tomorrow"
- Mañana me verá = "He will see me tomorrow"
Early Modern Spanish
This proclisis was a syntactic movement away from the idea that an object must follow the verb. For example, in these two sentences with the same meaning:
- María quiere comprarlo = "Maria wants to buy it."
- María lo quiere comprar = "Maria wants to buy it."
- Llámame = "Call me"
- dímelo = "Tell it to me"
Clitic substitution for the accusative
In most cases, one can identify the direct object of a Spanish sentence by substituting it for the accusative personal pronouns "lo", "la", "los", and "las".- Aristóteles instruyó a Alejandro = "Aristotle instructed Alexander"
- Aristóteles lo instruyó = "Aristotle instructed him"
- Roma es valiente = "Rome is brave"
- Roma lo es = "Rome is "
The "¿Qué?" method
- La nave surca el mar = "The ship crosses the sea"
- * ¿Qué surca? > "La nave." = "What crosses?" "The ship."
- ¿Qué pueblos sometió César? = "Which peoples did Caesar conquer?"
- * ¿Qué sometió? >...
Mandatory proclitic
- Yo te veo = "I see you"
- Él lo dijo = "He said it"
- Tú lo has hecho = "You have done it"
- El libro nos fue dado = "The book was given to us"
Mandatory enclitic
- positive imperatives
- infinitives
- gerunds
- Hazlo but never Lo haz
- Dáselo a alguien diferente but never Se lo da a alguien diferente
- tenerlo = "to have it"
- debértelo = "to owe it to you"
- oírnos = "to hear us"
- haberlo visto = "to have seen it"
- serme guardado = "to be saved for me"
- habértelos dado = "to have given them to you"
- haberle sido mostrado = "to have been shown to him/her/you"
- estar diciéndolo or estarlo diciendo = "to be saying it"
- andar buscándolos or andarlos buscando = "to go around looking for them"
- haber estado haciéndolo or haberlo estado haciendo = "to have been doing it"
- haciéndolo = "doing it"
- hablándoles = "talking to them"
- habiéndolo visto = "having seen it"
- siéndome dado = "being given to me"
- habiéndole sido mostrado = "having been shown to him/her/you"
- habiendo estado teniéndolos or habiéndolos estado teniendo = "having been holding them"
- andando buscándolos or andándolos buscando = "going around looking for them"
Proclitic or enclitic
- Quería hacerlo or Lo quería hacer = "He wanted to do it"
- Estoy considerándolo or Lo estoy considerando = "I'm considering it"
- Empieza a hacerlo or Empiézalo a hacer = "Start doing it"
- Sigue diciéndolo or Síguelo diciendo = "Keep saying it"
- querer vernos or querernos ver = "to want to see us"
- tener que poder hacerlo, tener que poderlo hacer, or tenerlo que poder hacer = "to have to be able to do it"
Metaplasm
Enclitization is subject to the following metaplasmic rules:- The s in the first-person plural ending -mos drops before nos, se, and os: vámonos, démoselo, mostrémoos, etc.
- The d in the informal second-person plural positive imperative drops before os: sentaos, apuraos, suscribíos, etc., except for the verb ir: idos
Combinations of clitic pronouns
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
se | te os | me nos | lo, la, los, las, le, les |
Thus:
- Él me lo dio = "He gave it to me"
- Ellos te lo dijeron = "They said it to you"
- Yo te me daré = "I will give myself to you"
- Vosotros os nos mostráis = "You are showing yourselves to us"
- Se le perdieron los libros = "The books disappeared on him"
- Me le arreglaron la moto = roughly "They fixed the bike for him on my behalf" or "They fixed the bike for me on his behalf"
- Muerte, ¿por qué te me lo llevaste tan pronto? = "Death, why did you take him from me so soon?"
- Me gusta y te gusta but never Me y te gusta = "You and I like him"
- Lo vi y te vi but never Lo y te vi = "I saw him and you"
- Me la dejaron ver = "They let me see her"
- Te lo dejará hacer = "He/she will let you do it"
Se
- Se lo di = "I gave it to him"
- Él se lo dijo = "He said it to him"
- Se lo hizo a sí or Se lo hizo = "He did it to himself"
- Se lo mantenían a sí or Se lo mantenían = "They kept it for themselves"
Clitic doubling
Non-emphatic
Simple non-emphatic clitic doubling is most often found with dative clitics. It is found with accusative clitics as well in cases of topicalization, and occasionally in other cases.All personal non-clitic direct objects, as well as indirect objects, must be preceded by the preposition a. Therefore, to distinguish the non-clitic indirect objects, an appropriate dative clitic pronoun is often used. This is done even with non-personal things such as animals and inanimate objects. With all non-clitic dative personal pronouns, which take the form a + the prepositional case of the pronoun, and all non-pronominal indirect objects that come before the verb, in the active voice, clitic doubling is mandatory:
- A mí me gusta eso but never A mí gusta eso = "I like that"
- Al hombre le dimos un regalo but never Al hombre dimos un regalo = "We gave the man a gift"
- Al perro le dijo que se siente but never Al perro dijo que se siente = "He/She/You told the dog to sit"
- Siempre ofrezco café a mis huéspedes = "I always offer coffee to my guests"
- Dijeron a José que se quedara donde estaba = "They told Jose to stay where he was"
- Diste al gato alguna comida = "You gave the cat some food"
- No le gusta a la mujer la idea but never No gusta a la mujer la idea = "The woman doesn't like the idea"
- Le preparé a mi jefe un informe but never Preparé a mi jefe un informe = "I prepared a report for my boss"
- Les cortó a las chicas el pelo but never Cortó a las chicas el pelo = "He/She/You cut the girls' hair"
- Esta película no gusta a nadie = "No one likes this movie"
- Preparó esta comida a todos = "He/she/you made this food for everyone"
- Era guardado a mi amigo este pedazo = "This piece was saved for my friend"
- Fue dado a ti = "It was given to you"
- Él te habló = "He spoke to you"
- Se lo dieron = "They gave it to him/her/you"
- Nos era guardado = "it was saved for us"
- the pronoun todo
- numerals that refer to animate nouns and are preceded by the definite article
- the indefinite pronoun uno when referring to the person speaking
- No lo sé todo = "I don't know everything"
- Los vi a los cinco = "I saw the five "
- Si no les gusta a ellos, lo rechazarán a uno = "If they don't like it, they'll reject you"
Clitic doubling is also often necessary to modify clitic pronouns, whether dative or accusative. The non-clitic form of the accusative is usually identical to that of the dative, although non-clitic accusative pronouns cannot be used to refer to impersonal things such as animals and inanimate objects. With attributive adjectives, nouns, and the intensifier mismo, clitic doubling is mandatory, and the non-clitic form of the pronoun is used:
- Mantente informado = "Keep yourself informed"
- Viéndolo hecho en persona, aprendí mucho = "By seeing it done in person, I learned a lot"
- Lo había oído dicho a veces = "He/she/you had heard it said occasionally"
Emphatic
- Lo vi a él = "I saw him"
- Te ama a ti = "He loves you"
- A ella le gusta la idea = "She likes the idea"
- Se las di las cosas but never Se las di ellas = "I gave the things to her"
- Lo vi el libro but never Lo vi él = "I saw the book "
- Se lo hiciste a ellos = "You did it to them"
- Esto le cabe a ella = "This fits it "
- Lo sé lo que dijo = "I know what he/she/you said"
- ¡Lo hace el trabajo! ¡Déjalo solo! = "He's doing his work! Leave him alone!"
Prepositional and comitative cases
As often with verbs used with multiple object pronouns of the same case, prepositions must be repeated for each pronoun they modify:
- Este vino es solamente para mí y para ti but never Este vino es solamente para mí y ti = "This wine is only for me and you"
- Ella estaba con él y con ella but never Ella estaba con él y ella = "She was with him and her"