Spanish keeps its small words in front of the verb — and sometimes glues them onto the end of it. This unit shows which pronoun to pick, where to put it and how to give an order, across twenty-four study cards, a page of hints, a three-tier quiz and four workshop labs.
Me lo das. In front of the conjugated verb there is a slot. The pronouns stand there, as their own words.
An object pronoun has two homes: in front of the conjugated verb, or attached to the end of an infinitive, a gerund or an affirmative command. When you attach one, a written accent appears to keep the stress where it already was.
Four things people get wrong
⚠️People often think…
With two verbs, the pronoun goes between them: Quiero lo comprar.
The pronoun may never stand between a conjugated verb and an infinitive. It goes in front of the pair, or onto the end of the infinitive: Lo quiero comprar, or Quiero comprarlo. Both are correct.
In front of both, or stuck to the end. Never in the middle.
⚠️People often think…
A pronoun attaches to the end of any command: No hagaslo.
Only an affirmative command lets a pronoun stick. A negative command sends it back out in front, as its own word: No lo hagas. No te levantes.
Yes pulls it in. No pushes it out.
⚠️People often think…
With two pronouns, ‘Le doy el libro’ becomes Le lo doy.
Le and les cannot stand in front of lo, la, los or las. They turn into se: Se lo doy. The meaning does not change at all — only the sound does.
Two l-words in a row: the first one becomes se.
⚠️People often think…
Dame has no accent, so damelo does not need one either.
Attaching a pronoun adds a syllable, and the stress stays on da. DA-me needs no mark. DÁ-me-lo is stressed three syllables from the end, so the mark is required to hold it there.
Count the syllables after you attach, not before.
Two homes, one verb
1Watch one
Me lo das means you give it to me. Turn it into a command.
Das is conjugated, so the pronouns go in front.
Me is indirect, lo is direct. Me lo das.
The tú command of dar is da.
A yes-command pulls them on: da + me + lo.
Da was stressed on DA. So is DÁ-me-lo — write the accent. Dámelo ✓
2Do one with me
One verb, comprar, in three shapes: Lo compro · Cómpralo · No lo compres.
In ‘Lo compro’ the pronoun stands
In ‘Cómpralo’ the pronoun is
In ‘No lo compres’ the pronoun goes back
💬One sentence, then you move on
Cómpralo and No lo compres use the same verb. Why did the pronoun move?
3Try one
Attach me and lo to the command da. Write the one word.
I want a hint first
Da + me + lo is three syllables, and the stress is still on da — three back from the end. That is where the written accent goes.
💬Last one — then you’re done here
Why does Dámelo need a written accent when Dame does not?
Where this goes
Where this lives
A recipe or a set of directions written in Spanish. Almost every line is a command with a pronoun on the end: córtalas, mézclalo, ponlo en el horno.
What this feeds
Next unit is the subjunctive. The negative command forms you just learned — no hables, no comas, no tengas — are the subjunctive already.
Write one line of a recipe in Spanish, as a command with a pronoun stuck on the end.
One card at a time — tap “Show me” to check yourself, then Next. Start at Foundation; when those feel easy, climb.
Helpful Hints
🧭 The unit in one line
Find the object → pick the pronoun (lo, la, le, se…) → put it in front of the conjugated verb, or glue it to an infinitive, a gerund or a yes-command → add the accent if the word grew → and on a no-command send it back out in front.
In front, unless it can stick. Yes sticks, no does not.
🔑 The one idea
A pronoun is a short word that stands in for a noun you already said. Spanish never leaves it loose at the end of the sentence: it either stands in front of the verb or becomes part of the verb. Every rule in this unit answers one question — which of those two.
⚠️ Traps to avoid
Never write ‘le lo’ or ‘les las’. Le and les turn into se in front of lo, la, los and las.
The pronoun may not sit between a conjugated verb and an infinitive. ‘Quiero lo comprar’ is wrong; write ‘Lo quiero comprar’ or ‘Quiero comprarlo’.
A negative command never takes the pronoun on its end. ‘No lo hagas’, never ‘No hagaslo’.
Build the negative tú command from the yo form, not the infinitive. Tengo gives ‘no tengas’, not ‘no tienes’.
With body parts and clothing, Spanish uses the article: ‘me lavo las manos’, not ‘me lavo mis manos’.
The personal a goes before a specific person, not before a thing. ‘Veo a María’ but ‘Veo la casa’.
When you attach a pronoun, check the accent. Da → dame → dámelo.
📐 The pronoun chart
Person
Subject
Direct object
Indirect object
Reflexive
I
yo
me
me
me
you (familiar)
tú
te
te
te
he, she, you (formal)
él, ella, usted
lo, la
le
se
we
nosotros, nosotras
nos
nos
nos
you all (Spain)
vosotros, vosotras
os
os
os
they, you all
ellos, ellas, ustedes
los, las
les
se
🔨 The commands at a glance
Verb
tú — yes
tú — no
usted
ustedes
hablar
habla
no hables
hable
hablen
comer
come
no comas
coma
coman
escribir
escribe
no escribas
escriba
escriban
tener
ten
no tengas
tenga
tengan
hacer
haz
no hagas
haga
hagan
ir
ve
no vayas
vaya
vayan
The eight irregular yes-commands for tú: di, haz, ve, pon, sal, sé, ten, ven.
🎯 How you will be asked
“Rewrite the sentence, replacing the underlined words with a pronoun.”
“Put the pronoun in a second correct place.” (Lo voy a leer / Voy a leerlo.)
“Give the tú command, affirmative and negative,” for a verb with an irregular yo form.
“Why is there an accent on this word?”
“Describe your morning in six sentences using reflexive verbs.”
✅ Before the test, can you…
Say the eight direct object pronouns and the six indirect ones from memory?
Name the four places a pronoun may stand, with an example of each?
Turn ‘Le doy el libro’ into a sentence with two pronouns?
List the eight irregular affirmative tú commands in one breath?
Explain why ‘Dámelo’ has an accent and ‘Dame’ does not?
Tell a reflexive se from a reciprocal se from a se that replaced le?
📚 Go to the sources
These open another website and need the internet. Look up one verb a night on the Real Academia dictionary and press Conjugar to see every form.
Look back at anything you missed — the hint that appeared is exactly what to reread tonight.
How sure did you feel?
Workshop
Work like a translator: label the four places a pronoun can stand, sort fourteen pronouns by the job each one is doing, put one morning in order, then explain a single accent mark.
Your practice never leaves this device. There is no account and no sign-in. Your work is saved in this browser only, and you can erase it whenever you want.
Your practice record — saved on this device
This is your record of the module on screen — it stays here and goes nowhere. Independent means you got it right on the first tap; supported means you got it after the explain-and-retry, or marked ‘I had it’ on a revealed answer. Both count, and neither is a grade. If your teacher asks, copy the row or show them this screen.
Date
—
Topic
—
Level
—
Independent
0 of 0
Supported
0 of 0
Hints used
0
Cards studied
0
Lab
—
Traps met
0
Explained in own words
0
Confidence
—
The answer key is for a teacher: it prints only from here, for the unit on screen. Print the study packet prints the study pages and a blank quiz — never the answers.