Object pronouns

There are three types of verbal object pronouns: Reflexive, Indirect and Direct.
The reflexive pronouns are used when the subject does the action to or for
him/herself.
I dressed myself quickly this morning. Yo me vest rpidamente esta maana.
The direct object is the person or thing to whom or to which the action is done.
I threw the ball. Yo tir la pelota.
The indirect object is almost always a person, who is affected by the action done to
the direct object.
I threw the ball to my sister. Yo le tir la pelota a mi hermana.
In these sentences the people and things are named, but in subsequent sentences
they could and probably would be replaced by pronouns.
Why did you throw it to her? Por qu se la tiraste a ella?
Certain verbs, such as dar, describir, ensear, mandar, explicar and mostrar
necessarily involve both a direct and an indirect object. For give to happen, there
has to be a thing that you give (D) and a person to whom you give it(I).
The first and second person pronouns
me nos
te os
are the same for all three types.
The third person pronouns are all different:
(R) se (I) le, les (D) lo, la, los, las
The acronym RID tells the order in which the pronouns occur if there are two of
them in a phrase.
The indirect object pronoun is often clarified or emphasized by the addition of
a m, a ti, a l, a ella, a Ud. , a vosotros/as, a ellos, a ellas, a Uds., or a (specific
person)
The indirect object pronoun is used even when the indirect object is specified,
resulting in what is known as the redundant construction.
Nosotros le regalamos una bicicleta nueva a Juanito.
When le, les come before la, la, los, las (when there are two in a row that both start
with l) le, les change to se, although they keep their original indirect object
meaning. Again, it is common, for emphasis or clarity, to specify the meaning of se
by saying a l, a ella, etc.
(Nosotros) se la regalamos (a l) por su cumpleaos.
Here, le has been changed to se because its followed by la.
The second issue regarding the placement of object pronouns has to do with
different types of sentences/utterances.
In brief, they are placed:
before conjugated verbs and negative commands, in which cases they remain as
separate words
Yo te lo mand. No me lo mandes!
after and attached to infinitives, gerunds and affirmative commands, in which
cases they combine with the original verb form to form a megaword. Thats not a
real grammatical term, btw. I just like saying it.
Voy a explicrtelo. Estoy explicndotelo.
In these cases, you could also place the object pronouns before the conjugated
verb:
Te lo voy a expilcar. Te lo estoy explicando.
However, they can only go after and attached to the affirmative command.
Otherwise you would have a statement:
Me lo explica.
Rather than a command:
Explcamelo!
The addition of the pronoun(s) to the original word often requires the addition of an
accent to maintain the integrity (stress pattern) of the original word. Remember
that if the word ends in vowel, n or s, the stress is supposed to occur in the second
to last syllable. Otherwise, its supposed to occur in the last syllable. If one of
these rules is broken, you need an accent to guide pronunciation.
Since commands are part of this discussion, remember that all commands* except
the affirmative t command, are the subjunctive of the person being addressed.
The t command differs on both counts: its the indicative present tense of the
l/ella/Ud. form.
Although its the outlier, its one youll use frequently, since youre likely to be
ordering friends around
Irregulars include ven, di, sal, haz, ten, ve, pon, s.
Mnemonic device: Vin Diesel has ten weapons.

Vosotros/as commands are formed by replacing the r from the infinitive with d so
hablad, comed, etc. but dont worry about this right now.