Modern Spanish Grammar: A Practical Guide

(lily) #1
The object pronoun of the infinitive, and gerund complements of a number of
common verbs, may be placed before the main verb rather than after the infinitive:
No lo quiero recordar,or No quiero recordarlo. (see 45.1)
I don’t want to remember it.
Se lo tienes que dar,or Tienes que dárselo.
You have to give it to him.
Siempre se está maquillando,or Siempre está maquillándose.
She’s always putting on make-up.
To this group of verbs belong:
acabar de+ infinitive ‘to have just’
comenzar a+ infinitive ‘to begin to’
conseguir+ infinitive ‘to succeed in -ing’
deber+ infinitive ‘must, ought to’
dejar de+ infinitive ‘to stop -ing’
empezar a+ infinitive ‘to begin to’
estar+ gerund ‘to be -ing’
intentar+ infinitive ‘to try to’
ir+ gerund ‘to keep on -ing’
ir a+ infinitive ‘to be going to’
lograr+ infinitive ‘to succeed in -ing’
pensar+ infinitive ‘to intend to’
poder+ infinitive ‘to be able to’
querer+ infinitive ‘to want to’
saber+ infinitive ‘to know how to’
soler+ infinitive ‘usually to’
tener que+ infinitive ‘to have to’
tratar de+ infinitive ‘to try to’
venir+ gerund ‘to have been -ing’
volver a+ infinitive ‘to do again’

8.2.2.2 With respect to one another
The order of object pronouns is:



  • Se must always stand first. Only one se per group can be used, whatever its function
    (see 23 and 24.4).

  • An indirect object pronoun must always precede a direct object pronoun.

  • When le or les are used in combination with another pronoun of the fourth group,
    they become se and stand in initial position.
    Examples:
    ¡Dámelo!
    Give it to me!
    Se me olvidó traértela.
    I forgot to bring it for you.


12 3 4


se te, os me, nos lo, la, le, los, las, les

PERSONAL PRONOUNS 8.2

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