Direct and Indirect Object Pronouns in Spanish

Save an extra 25% on Langua annual plans with my code: QROO (all caps)

FINDING THE DISCOUNT BOX ON LANGUA (It can be tricky)
LAPTOPS: look for 'Add discount' just below the Subtotal and above the tax on the left (if tax applies in your country).
PHONES: You have to click 'Show order summary' when the checkout opens and it will reveal the same thing I described for laptops.

My Favorite Spanish Book (Amazon Affiliate Link*)

[QrooSpanish]

Join the Qroo Crew for More Content
Want to thank me? Buy me a coffee

[pep]

This video is a perfect example of why we, American English speakers learning Spanish, need an American in certain situations to teach us. Especially when it comes to intermediate to advanced grammar. A native Spanish speaker can never in a month of Sundays explain this difficulty even close to how clear you make it for us.

[brohamsandwich]

My god you have provided the clearest most digestible explanation of this. No other Spanish lessons channel does it like this. Very much needed and props.

[MrShikasta]

For about 8 months duolingo has been feeding me these sentences hoping I'd work out these rules by myself jajaja - thank you so much Paul; finally, I get it.

[alexgodeye]

Madre: ¿Qué aprendiste hoy en la escuela, Timmy?
Timmy: "Se la di a María"
Madre: WHAT!?

[CWYmusic]

What a service you are providing to all us folks who grew up "learning" spanish in school. Really happy I stumbled upon your channel!

[jimruth]

I'm really appreciating your videos. I'm not certain, but I think I may be a unique case in the pursuit of fluency in Spanish.
I'm less than three weeks away from my 80th birthday and I took two years of classroom Spanish starting 66 years ago. Like most Americans, two years in a classroom did little to make Spanish a part of my life. But I didn't put it on a mental shelf gather ingredients dust. At least not permanently. I would come back to it periodically, reviewing my vocabulary and adding a few words to it. Then I began seeking written materials in Spanish and practicing reading them aloud. I've reached a point where I can read newspaper stories and get from 70% up to 90%+ of the article without looking up many words.
But I still wasn't able (or willing) to converse in Spanish. After all of these years, I rank my ability as a Spanish-speaking person at high end of "beginner" or barely reaching "intermediate." Your videos are in the process of changing that. I am reading more consistently. I am watching more TV and videos, trying to learn to understand better what I hear. Two days ago, I started a diary - in Spanish - to record my attempts to make Spanish a major part of my life. But in the four days since first watching your videos, my vocabulary has grown dramatically and my comfort with listening to Spanish has grown. It is many hours of practice away from being satisfactory, but I already feel a difference.
Oh, I also ordered the book that you recommended, and it is supposed to be delivered today.

You said in the first video I watched that fluency is not quickly attained - probably at least two years. I'm hoping that building on the foundation that has come from years of haphazard efforts I might be able to shorten that a bit.

[jessieee_p]

¡Qué estupendo! Nos ha dado una lección esencial para hablar español con más fluidez y confianza. Yo vivo en España desde hace un año, originalmente soy de Australia. Hasta ahora no he podido entender este concepto con claridad. Muchas gracias por enseñarnos 🫡☺️

[unknownquantity]

This was a super important lesson explaining the super confusing myriad pronouns in Spanish, especially substituting 'se' for le/la to avoid awkward phrasing in Spanish. Man was that a frustrating thing for me to understand, which I didn't. until now. Even my Spanish tutor (native speaker) didn't/couldn't explain the differences in and usage of these indirect/direct pronouns sufficiently or succinctly enough for me to understand. You did it in a few minutes. Thank you!

[rebeccapowell]

I have been speaking Spanish for 30 years studied at 2 universities and I never had a better understanding than I have with your video. Thanks so much!

[TLOH]

As a native Spanish speaker myself, for the first time; in my entire existence, I suddenly started thinking about why the heck we use “Se” in Spanish after reading the thumbnail.

[YoelMonsalve]

Just to append (I'm a native Spanish speaker). Mexicans particularly tend to use redundant pronouns. Example:
-"María me llamó. Pero, *yo* le dije *a ella* que no podía ir".
Translation: (Maria called me, but I told her that I couldn't come).
Here, *yo* and *a ella* are redundant, because the 1st singular person pronoun "yo" can be inferred (and therefore omitted):

"Yo le dije a ella" = "Le dije a ella".

Also, the part "a ella" can be omitted, because of the indirect object pronoun "le". Also, it's obvious that we are referring to "Maria", so we can perfectly say:

"Maria me llamó, pero le dije que no podía ir".

It is worth to mention that these redundancies are NOT grammatically incorrect, it's up to you whether using them or not, and in this sense Spanish is a lot flexible. You can either be redundant (it you like), or not.

[MaryLynneAshley]

This video helped me so much! I feel like this has been one of the major missing pieces in my Spanish, and I think I finally get it. Thanks so much!

[zeppelinmexicano]

Grammar books try to teach this stuff about indirect/direct object pronouns, but looking back on it, I think that beginners can't really "get it" from studying it in grammar contexts. To be able to use it takes more than understanding it mentally. It has to be absorbed and to be automatic to the ear and speaking brain.

[PianoCubeYT]

Very clear explanation, thank you from a British A-level Spanish student. ¡Muchísimas Gracias!

[macalloway]

This video is super enlightening and helpful. I think what hurts a lot english speakers is of the first 7 verbs we are taught "gustar" and "encantar" are among them and They have an opposite effect with indirect object pronouns. Me encanta basically means "i love" which leads you to believe encantar means "love" but its more like "enchants"or "causes enchantment". Same thing with gustar. For instance "me encanta" means i love something else but "me quire" means something else loves me so the word order cant simply be replicated. Gustar along with tener, querer, and ir are like staple verbs and one reverses word order and the others is an irregular verb. The bottom line is you need enough exposure to identify and remember all these special case but fortunately for us english is a language of exceptions so we are used to remembering how to pronounce a word like "naive". Ill probably find out this has been covered in depth before

[lucoot]

Something about how you explain these concepts, common pitfalls, contrasted to similar concepts, jives better than any other teacher I’ve had. I have a vocabulary, but your videos are giving me the sentence skeletons I’ve had trouble piecing together. And I find your examples to be less contrived and more practical. Thanks!

[LandonTyner]

Awesome video man. I never had explained to me where “se” came from and this video made perfect sense. I understand this so much better now. Thank you 🙏

[gordonb]

Hands down, best teacher ever, of direct and indirect object pronoun in Spanish. Spanish speaking teachers could not deliver this concept even remotely close to the way it was explained and delivered. What a blessing!

[Snk_ty]

Now I fully understand the direct and indirect pronouns! Your explanations and examples were incredibly insightful. Thanks Paul! 💯