Indirect Object Pronouns in Spanish
A closer look
Les voy a dar a mis amigos unos regalitos navideños – ¡Felices fiestas!
Post 264/365
Es viernes, 15 de diciembre de 2017
Hola,
Today we are going to continue with Indirect Object Pronouns (IOPs), but not with verbs like gustar.
Let’s look at how we’ll use them with 2 other important verbs.
1. Repasito
IOPs are:
me, te, le, nos and les
They are used to show ‘to whom‘, ‘for whom, ‘from whom’ something is…
…pleasing (with verbs like gustar)
…given (with dar)
…told (with decir)
…done (with hacer)
…taken away (with quitar)
etc… We will look at these further in another Post.
Remember that IOPs can be emphazied or clarified with a prepositional phrase.
A mi me…
A mi amigo le…
A ellos les…
2. IOPs with the verbs decir & dar
We can hook IOPs up with certain verbs because they go together. For example, you always use them with verbs like gustar
They show up with dar and decir since ‘we give something to someone’ and ‘we say something to someone’
Ejemplos:
Ella me dijo lo que pasó ayer. – She told me what happened yesterday.
No le dijo a María. – She didn’t tell María.
Note: ‘a María‘ is clarifying ‘le‘ in the 2nd example.
Yo les di un regalo a Martín y su familia. – I gave Martin and his family a gift.
Ellos nos dieron una botella de vino. – They gave us a bottle of wine.
Note: These can be tricky because you have to pay attention to 2 things:
1. who is doing the action – that’s how the verb gets conjugated
2 who is receiving something – that’s the IOP.
3. Práctica con el verbo decir en el pretérito
These are very important combinations to get your ears tuned into. You´ll hear them a lot! See how many combinations you can make.
Who did you tell?
I told…
Yo te dije la semana pasada. – I told you last week.
Yo le dije a ella – I told her…
Yo les dije a ellos – I told them…
Who did you tell?
You told…
Me dijiste anoche – You told me last night
le dijiste a él – You told him…
nos dijiste – You told us…
les dijiste a ellas – You told them…
Who did he or she or you tell?
He / She / You told…
El me dijo el martes. – He told me on Tuesday.
Ella te dijo – She told you…
Ud. nos dijo a nosotros – You told us…
Who did we tell?
We told…
Te dijimos la verdad – We told you the truth.
Le dijimos a Ud. – We told you…
Les dijimos a Uds. – We told you guys…
Who did they tell?
They / You guys told…
Ellos me dijeron que sí. – They told me yes
Ellas te dijeron… – They told you…
Uds. nos dijeron … – You guys told us…
Uds. les dijeron a Pablo y Lina … – You guys told Pablo and Lina…
Repeat these again and again so you can quickly recognize who told who what (who told whom what)
4. Práctica con el verbo dar en el futuro (con el verbo ir)
Let’s have some holiday fun!
Make a list of what you are going to give to whom…
Para la Navidad…
a. Yo te voy a dar… ¡No voy a decirte!
b. ¿Qué le vas a dar a tu esposo? ¿Tienes algunas ideas?
c. No sé lo que él me va a dar.
d. Les vamos a dar 2 entradas al Rodeo. Es en enero.
e. El año pasado ellos nos dieron este florero.
Traducción abajo
Action steps: Read and reread, aloud. Come back tomorrow. There’s more to learn.
Déjame un comentario. Quiero oir de ti.
Gracias y hasta mañana,
Carolina
Traducción
Para la Navidad… – For Christmas…
a. Yo te voy a dar… ¡No voy a decirte! – I’m going to give you…I’m not telling you!
b. ¿Qué le vas a dar a tu esposo? ¿Tienes algunas ideas? – What are you going to give your husband? Do you have any ideas?
c. No sé lo que él me va a dar. – I don’t know what he’s going to give me.
d. Les vamos a dar 2 entradas al Rodeo. Es en enero. – We’re going to give them 2 tickets to the Rodeo. It’s in January.
e. El año pasado ellos nos dieron este florero. – Last year they gave us this vase.
