Little Stories in the Pronouns
IDO + DO Combos Tell a Story
When IDO and DO pronouns appear in a sentence I find it difficult to tell what’s going on.
But I have developed a new way of looking at it, that is much simpler.
My ‘theory’ goes like this:
IDO and DO are always followed by a conjugated verb.
These two to three words [pronouns + conjugated verb] tell a little story.
- who it lands on
- who or what is involved
- what the action is and who did it
Let’s look at an example:
Te explico la situación
Te la explico
Te ← la ← explico
you ← it ← I explain
- te — you are where the action lands
- la — it/the idea is what the action is about (la situación)
- explico — who did what (first person present tense conjugation: I explain)
- A little story of who, what and what happened
To translate them into English, I look for the [pronoun/s + conjugated verb] combination and look for who, what and what happened.
This gives me something I can actually picture instead of trying to remember grammatical labels of Direct Object and Indirect Object.
Sometimes the stories are simpler
In a sentence that contains just an IDO, there is [one pronoun + conjugated verb] that is the little story.
Le hablé esta mañana.
to her ← I spoke
- le — she is where the action lands
- hablé — who did what (I spoke)
Or the sentence contains just a DO, [one pronoun + conjugated verb] that is the little story.
La vi esta mañana.
her ← I saw
- la — where the action lands (her)
- vi — who did what (I saw)
Sometimes the stories Tell More
In a sentence that contains a combination of DO and IDO, there are [two pronouns + conjugated verb], which make the story a little more involved.
La mujer sacó un tamal de una olla grande y me lo dio.
me lo dio
to me ← it ← she gave
- me — me is where the action lands
- lo — the tamal is what the action is about
- dio — who did what (she gave)
Other ways the story can be told
Reflexive Verbs
Me lavé.
myself ← I washed
I washed myself.
- me — where the action lands
- lavé — who did what: I washed
Se miró en el espejo.
himself/herself ← he/she looked
He/she looked at himself/herself in the mirror.
- se — where the action lands; the same person who did the looking is also being looked at
- miró — who did what: he/she looked
Pronominal verbs
Pronominal verbs end in -se and have a different definition to the original infinitive counterpart. Often the meaning is subtle.
A common pronominal: comer and comerse
These ones are a little tricky – instead of landing on someone else, the pronominal pronoun ‘se’ lands on the same person that is doing the action. It’s a ‘personal act’.
comerse → the personal act of consuming something
Me comí una manzana. → I ate an apple—the complete, specific apple.
Me la comí.
- me — me is where the action lands (a personal act)
- la — what the action is about (the apple)
- comí — who did what – I did it
Infinitive stacking
The little pronoun story can also attach to an infinitive when two verbs work together as a verb phrase.
No pude alcanzarlo.
No lo pude alcanzar.
- lo — who the action lands on (him, the donkey)
- no pude alcanzar — what the action is and who did it (I couldn’t reach/catch up with him)
No pude alcanzar is a verb phrase and functions like a single conjugated action in the little story.
The pronoun can sit before the conjugated verb: No lo pude alcanzar.
Or attach to the infinitive: No pude alcanzarlo.
The position changes, but the little story remains the same.
Gerund stacking
The little pronoun story can also be in gerunds.
(When the pronoun belongs directly with a gerund, it must attach to the end.)
Están hablándote.
Te están hablando.
- te – you are where the action lands
- están – who
- hablando – did what
And although hablando isn’t a conjugated verb, it still adds to the little story. It tells me the action is in progress.
Conversational imperative
Affirmative commands are individual words that say a lot! They are DO/IDO/verb combos in one word.
The order is a little different but all the components are there.
Tráemela.
trae + me + la
bring + to me + her/it
Bring her/it to me.
- trae — what the action is (bring)
- me — who the action lands on (me)
- la — what the action is about (her)