Object pronouns aren't created equal
Saturday January 12, 2008
Most of the time it isn't necessary to know whether an object pronoun is a direct one or an indirect one. But with certain verbs it is, especially when talking about other people. In a recently updated lesson, you can learn the difference — and even find out what an object pronoun is if you don't know that. Learn more...
Comments
“When both direct-object and indirect-object pronouns are objects of the same verb, the indirect object comes before the direct object.”
Not quite. This is usually the case, but the reality is that the pronouns have a fixed order. “Se” always comes before “le”, even though it’s a direct object in that case. Confusingly, “te” must always come before “me”, no matter which is indirect, so using both together has a lot of potential for confusion if “te” is being used as a direct object.
The full order is: se, te/os, me/nos, le/los/la/les/los/las
My source is the book “A New Reference Grammar of Modern Spanish”, by John Butt and Carmen Benjamin.