Object pronouns in Spanish follow different rules and placement than they do in English.

Learning how to use these pronouns correctly will immediately make your Spanish sound more natural.

You use these pronouns every single day without realizing it.

Instead of saying “I read the book,” you say “I read it.”

The word “it” is an object pronoun that saves you from repeating the noun over and over again.

In Spanish, we divide these into two categories: direct object pronouns and indirect object pronouns.

This guide explains exactly how to identify them, choose the right one, and place it correctly in a sentence.

Understanding direct object pronouns

A direct object is the person or thing that directly receives the action of the verb.

You can find the direct object by asking “what?” or “whom?” after the verb.

If you say “I eat the apple,” the apple is the direct object because it’s the thing being eaten.

In Spanish, you replace “the apple” (la manzana) with a direct object pronoun.

Here’s a table showing all the direct object pronouns in Spanish.

Because Spanish nouns have gender and number, your pronoun must match the noun it replaces.

If you’re replacing a masculine singular noun like el libro (the book), you use lo.

If you’re replacing a feminine plural noun like las cartas (the letters), you use las.

Here are a few examples of direct object pronouns in action.

Understanding indirect object pronouns

An indirect object tells us to whom or for whom an action is done.

You can find the indirect object by asking “to whom?” or “for whom?” the action occurs.

If you say “I give the book to him,” the book is the direct object, and “him” is the indirect object.

Here’s a table showing all the indirect object pronouns in Spanish.

Notice that the first and second person pronouns (me, te, nos, os) are exactly the same as the direct object pronouns.

The only differences are in the third person forms, which use le and les instead of lo, la, los, las.

Also, indirect object pronouns don’t change based on gender.

You use le for a man, a woman, or a formal “you” (usted).

Here are a few examples showing how indirect object pronouns work.

Where to place object pronouns in a sentence

In English, we place object pronouns after the verb.

In Spanish, object pronouns almost always go right before the conjugated verb.

This applies to both direct and indirect object pronouns.

However, there are three specific situations where you can attach the pronoun directly to the end of the verb.

First, you can attach the pronoun to an infinitive verb (a verb that ends in -ar, -er, or -ir).

Second, you can attach the pronoun to a gerund (a verb ending in -ando or -iendo).

Third, you must attach the pronoun to the end of an affirmative command.

Keep in mind that when you attach pronouns to gerunds or commands, you often need to add a written accent mark to keep the original stress of the verb.

Using direct and indirect object pronouns together

Sometimes you need to use both a direct and an indirect object pronoun in the same sentence.

If you want to say “I give it to him,” you need both pronouns.

When this happens, there’s a strict rule for the order of the pronouns.

The indirect object pronoun always comes first, followed by the direct object pronoun.

A helpful trick is to remember that people usually come before things.

There’s one major exception you need to know when combining these pronouns.

In Spanish, you can never put the pronouns le or les immediately before lo, la, los, or las.

It sounds too repetitive to say “le lo” or “les la”.

To fix this awkward sound, the indirect object pronoun le or les automatically changes to se.

Because se can mean to him, to her, to them, or to you (formal), the meaning can sometimes be ambiguous.

When the context isn’t perfectly clear, native speakers will add a clarification phrase like a él or a ellos to the end of the sentence.

Important regional variations

The way Spanish speakers use object pronouns can change depending on where they live.

One of the most famous variations is called leísmo.

This phenomenon is incredibly common in central and northern Spain.

Instead of using the direct object pronoun lo for a masculine person, speakers in these regions use le.

While lo is grammatically correct for a direct object, the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) accepts leísmo when referring to a single male person.

Another major regional difference relates to the plural “you” pronouns.

In Spain, speakers use the informal plural vosotros and its corresponding object pronoun os.

In Latin America, the vosotros form isn’t used at all.

Instead, Latin American speakers use the formal ustedes for all plural “you” situations, which means they use the object pronouns los, las, or les.