The third person pronouns lo and la are often replaced by le when the direct object is a
person rather than a thing:
e.g. John sees it.
Juan lo ve.
but
John sees him.
Juan le (or lo) ve.Similarly in the plural:
John sees them. (e.g. the cars)
Juan los ve.but
John sees them. (e.g. the children)
Juan les ve.This is known as leísmo and is more common in Spain, particularly central Spain, than in
Latin America.
We have seen that the direct object pronoun generally comes before the main verb, but
there are some cases where the pronoun is added to the end of the verb form – notably the
infinitive:
e.g. I am going to buy it.
Voy a comprarlo.
We are going to visit you tomorrow.
Vamos a visitarte mañana.
*There is an alternative position for the pronoun in these sentences – i.e. Lo voy a
comprar/Te vamos a visitar mañana – but at this stage it is better to add it to the
infinitive.
The gerund (see Unit 15) and the imperative (this will be dealt with at a later stage)
behave in a similar way.
Indirect objects and indirect object pronounsIn Spanish the indirect object is always preceded by the preposition a:
Juan escribe una carta a su novia.Object pronouns 81