How to Use Direct Object Pronouns in Spanish (with examples)

Hola and welcome to a new grammar lesson. This time, we will discuss the rules to use direct object pronouns in Spanish, a special type of pronouns used to refer to things and people. They are essential in daily conversations, as they help to simplify speech and let the other person know who or what we are talking about. With that said, let’s start…

What are direct object pronouns in Spanish?

Direct object pronouns in Spanish are words like “LO, LOS, LA, LAS, SE” that are always used as a reference to an object that was mentioned before in a statement. As we will soon see in this lesson, the pronoun to use in a sentence must correspond with the number and gender of the objects we refer to. For instance, in the sentence “El televisor está encendido ¿Lo puedes apagar?“, the word LO is a direct object pronoun that refers to “the TV”. In this example, we used LO because “TELEVISOR” is a singular, masculine noun. On the other hand, for a singular feminine noun like BILLETERA(wallet), we must use LA: “Busqué la billetera media hora, pero al fin la encontré” (I found it). Here is a chart for Spanish direct object pronouns plus a few examples similar to the ones we will see later.

How to use direct object pronouns in Spanish to refer to people

Let’s try to understand where direct object pronouns in Spanish come from. When we speak Spanish, we normally use the preposition “A” to show some kind of relationship between a subject and an object, just the way “TO” is used in the English language sometimes. This means that something like “Ana listens to Carlos”, where “Ana” is the subject and “Carlos” is the object, would be easily translated into “Ana escucha a Carlos”. The word “A” corresponds to the preposition TO in this case. If we used a direct object pronouns in Spanish to replace the proper noun CARLOS instead, we would need to replace “A Carlos” for the corresponding pronoun for him, that is “LO” or “LE”. After identifying the object pronoun that we need, we must place it before the correct conjugation of the verb (ESCUCHA), having “Ana lo escucha” as a result of the transformation.

Following the same rule, it is all a matter of finding the right pronoun to replace the object in the sentence for one of the pronouns in the chart. Listen to some examples of sentences using direct object pronouns in Spanish to refer to people.

How to use direct object pronouns in Spanish for things

If you understood how to use these pronouns to replace people when they work as the object of the sentence, then it will be a lot easier for things. A sentence like “Carlos bought a car” can be translated into “Carlos compró un auto”. The main object in this sentence is “un auto”, something we know by asking ourselves the question ¿Qué es lo que + action in the sentence? as in ¿Qué es lo que Carlos compró? – Un auto. Now that we know what the object is, we can replace this noun for a pronoun that matches it in gender and number, that is “LO”. With that in mind, we can simply say “Carlos lo compró” where LO refers to the car itself. Here are some more examples of sentences using object pronouns in Spanish:

As you can see in the example, we need to be careful to use the appropriate Spanish direct object pronoun for the object we are referring to. SE is a special pronoun, often used in an impersonal way meaning BY ITSELF like in the sentences “La película se terminó” (The movie is over). Here are some more examples:

Related Spanish Worksheets:

• Subject Pronouns in Spanish – PDF Worksheet
• Basic Sentence Structure in Spanish – PDF Worksheet
• Spanish Direct Object Pronouns – PDF Worksheet