Accusative Pronouns

What or whom the action is directed at is expressed by an accusative pronoun that answers the questions what, whom or who.

The accusative pronoun often refers to the thing introduced in the previous sentence. The pronoun is chosen according to the gender and number of the object. The accusative pronoun is placed in the sentence before the conjugated verb and after any negation. It acts as a direct object:

Este es mi perro. ¿Tú lo quieres acariciar?

This is my dog. Do you want to pet it?

Nosotros te escuchamos con atención.

We listen to you carefully.

¿Sabes dónde está María? No la vi en la escuela.

Do you know where María is? I didn’t see her at school.

If a sentence contains an infinitive (= base form) or a gerund (e.g. hablando) in addition to the conjugated verb, the accusative pronoun can also be added at the end of the infinitive or gerund form:

Ella no puede hacerlo sin tu ayuda.

She can’t do it without your help.

La empresa está contratándola ahora mismo.

The company is hiring her right now.

When the accusative pronoun is added to the end of a gerund, a stress marker must often be added to the gerund to avoid changing the stress of the verb:

contratando → contratándola

In affirmative commands, the accusative pronoun is placed after the verb, but in negative commands before the verb:

Escúchame, por favor.

Listen to me, please.

No me escuches, por favor.

Don’t listen to me, please.

If you want to emphasise a person, you can use an accusative pronoun, and a prepositional pronoun with the preposition a:

Te quiero a ti.

I love you.

Me escuchan a mí.

They listen to me.

The prepositional pronouns are the same as regular personal pronouns, except for the 1st and 2nd person singular forms. With a preposition, the form mí is used for the pronoun I and the form ti for the pronoun you.

Dative Pronouns

The dative pronoun usually indicates to whom or to what something is given, ordered, etc. or from whom e.g. a question is asked.

The dative pronoun is chosen according to the gender and number of the object. It is placed in the sentence before the conjugated verb and after any negation. It acts as an indirect object.

Antonio no te pregunta nada.

Antonio asks you nothing.

Nosotros le damos un regalo de cumpleaños.

We give him a birthday present.

If a sentence contains an infinitive (= base form) or a gerund (e.g. ayudando) in addition to the conjugated verb, the dative pronoun can also be added at the end of the infinitive or gerund form:

Quiero llamarte mañana.

I want to call you tomorrow.

Estás ayudándoles con la tarea.

You are helping them with the homework.

When the dative pronoun is added to the end of a gerund, a stress marker must often be added to the gerund to avoid changing the stress of the verb:

ayudando → ayudándoles

In affirmative commands, the dative pronoun is placed after the verb, but in negative commands before the verb:

Dame tu número de teléfono.

Give me your phone number.

¡No me hables así!

Don’t talk to me like that!

 

Using the Accusative and Dative Pronouns Together

When both the dative and accusative pronoun are used with a verb, the dative pronoun (to/from whom; indirect object) always comes first. The accusative pronoun (what, whom, who; direct object) can be either singular (lo/la) or plural in the 3rd person (los/las).

¿Me la puedes arreglar?

Can you fix it for me?

Two pronouns that start with the letter l are not placed one after the other: the dative pronouns le and les become se:

Se lo estamos explicando ahora.

We are explaining it to them now.

Accusative and dative pronouns must always be on the same side of the verb. They can’t be split on different sides of the verb.

With the infinitive and gerund, the accusative and dative pronouns can be placed either:

• at the end of the second verb:

Voy a comprártelo hoy.

I’m going to buy it for you today.

or

• before both verbs:

Te lo estoy comprando ahora.

I am buying it for you now.