Unit 17 · Pronouns, Reflexives and Commands

Tomás texts his sister: "¿Tienes la calculadora?" (Do you have the calculator?) She answers, "Sí, la tengo." (Yes, I have it.) The word la is standing in for la calculadora. It is a pronombre de objeto directo (direct object pronoun). The direct object is the noun that receives the action of the verb. Ask "what?" or "whom?" after the verb, and the answer is the direct object: I have what? The calculator.

Spanish has four third-person direct object pronouns, and they match the noun in gender and number: lo (him, it, masculine), la (her, it, feminine), los (them, masculine or mixed), las (them, feminine). "¿Compraste los boletos?" (Did you buy the tickets?) "Sí, los compré." (Yes, I bought them.) "¿Conoces a Marta?" (Do you know Marta?) "Sí, la conozco." (Yes, I know her.) People and things use the same pronouns.

The pronouns for me, you and us are easy because they never change for gender: me (me), te (you, familiar), nos (us). "Mi mamá me despierta." (My mom wakes me.) "Te llamo mañana." (I’ll call you tomorrow.) "El profesor nos escucha." (The teacher listens to us.) The common English-speaker mistake is to translate it as lo every time. If the noun is feminine, it is la: la tarea (the homework) → la hago (I do it).

In English the pronoun follows the verb: I see it. In Spanish it comes first: Lo veo. The pronoun sits directly in front of the verbo conjugado (conjugated verb), the verb with a person ending. "Mi hermano me despierta." (My brother wakes me.) "¿La calculadora? La tengo." (The calculator? I have it.) Nothing squeezes between the pronoun and the verb.

When the sentence is negative, no goes before the pronoun, not between the pronoun and the verb. "No lo tengo." (I don’t have it.) "No te escucho." (I can’t hear you.) English speakers often write "Lo no tengo" because English puts the negative next to the verb. Remember the order: no + pronoun + verb.

In a question the order stays the same; only the intonation and the question marks change. "¿Me escuchas?" (Are you listening to me?) "¿Los viste?" (Did you see them?) Subject pronouns, when they appear, go before everything: "Yo no la conozco." (I don’t know her.) Say the chain out loud a few times until it feels natural: yo no la conozco, tú no la conoces, ella no la conoce.

Daniela says, "Voy a leer los apuntes." (I’m going to read the notes.) With a pronoun she has two choices, and both are correct: "Los voy a leer" or "Voy a leerlos." The pronoun can go before the conjugated verb (voy) or attach to the end of the infinitivo (infinitive, the -ar, -er, -ir form). Attached, it is written as one word: leerlos, comprarla, verte.

The same two choices exist with the gerundio (gerund, the -ando / -iendo form) after estar. "Estoy leyendo los apuntes" becomes "Los estoy leyendo" or "Estoy leyéndolos." Notice the accent that appeared on leyéndolos. A gerund is stressed on the syllable before -ndo: le-YEN-do. Adding -los makes the word longer, so Spanish writes an accent to keep the stress where it was: leyéndolos, comiéndola, esperándote.

Infinitives usually do not need an accent when one pronoun attaches (leerlos, verte), because the stress already falls on the last syllable and one extra syllable does not break the rules. English speakers often forget the gerund accent, or add one to an infinitive where it does not belong. Rule of thumb: gerund + pronoun always takes an accent; infinitive + one pronoun does not.

Daniela’s mother made her a sandwich: "Le preparé un sándwich a Daniela." (I made a sandwich for Daniela.) The sandwich is the direct object, the thing made. Daniela is the objeto indirecto (indirect object), the person it was made for. Ask "to whom?" or "for whom?" after the verb, and you have found the indirect object.

The indirect object pronouns are me, te, le, nos, les. Only the third person differs from the direct ones: le (to him, to her, to you formal) and les (to them, to you all). They do not change for gender. "Le escribo a mi abuela." (I write to my grandmother.) "Les mando fotos a mis primos." (I send photos to my cousins.) "Te doy el libro." (I give you the book.)

Spanish often keeps both the pronoun and the noun in the same sentence: "Le preparé un sándwich a Daniela." This looks like a repeat to English speakers, but it is normal Spanish. The phrase a Daniela clears up who le means. Verbs of giving, telling and asking almost always take an indirect object: dar (to give), decir (to say), pedir (to ask for), mandar (to send), regalar (to give as a gift).

"¿Me lo preparaste?" (Did you make it for me?) "Sí, te lo preparé." (Yes, I made it for you.) When both objects are pronouns, the indirect one comes first, then the direct one, and both go before the conjugated verb: me lo, te la, nos los. Think of the order as person first, thing second.

Now the twist. Spanish does not allow le lo or les la. When le or les comes right before lo, la, los or las, it changes to se. "Le doy el libro a Marta" becomes "Se lo doy." (I give it to her.) "Les mando las fotos a mis primos" becomes "Se las mando." (I send them to them.) This se is not reflexive; it is just le or les in disguise, changed so two l-words do not bump together.

Because se can mean to him, to her, to you (formal) or to them, Spanish often adds a clarifying phrase: "Se lo doy a ella" (I give it to her). Two English-speaker mistakes to watch for: writing le lo, and putting the direct pronoun first (lo se doy). The chain is always se + lo/la/los/las + verb.

Both pronouns can also attach to an infinitive or a gerund, in the same order, as one word: "Voy a dártelo." (I’m going to give it to you.) "Está explicándonoslo." (She is explaining it to us.) The pronouns never split up. Either both go before the conjugated verb (Te lo voy a dar) or both go on the end (Voy a dártelo).

When two pronouns attach, a written accent is always needed, even on an infinitive. Say dar-te-lo: the stress stays on dar, now three syllables from the end, so Spanish writes dártelo. The same goes for comprársela (to buy it for her), decírselo (to tell it to him), and any gerund: diciéndoselo, mandándotelas. Find the syllable that was stressed in the plain verb and put the accent there.

The famous example is the command dámelo (give it to me), which you will meet again in the next chapter. Da is the command, me is to me, lo is it. The stress stays on da, so the accent goes there. If you can build dámelo, cómpramela and explícanoslo, you have the whole system: verb + indirect + direct, one word, accent on the original stressed syllable.

"Me ducho en tres minutos," Daniela says. Ducharse means to shower, to wash oneself. The subject (Daniela) and the object (Daniela) are the same person, so the verb is reflexivo (reflexive). In the dictionary a reflexive verb ends in -se: levantarse (to get up), ducharse (to shower), vestirse (to get dressed), acostarse (to go to bed).

To conjugate one, drop the -se, conjugate the verb as usual, and put the matching pronombre reflexivo (reflexive pronoun) in front: me levanto, te levantas, se levanta, nos levantamos, os levantáis, se levantan. The pronoun and the ending must agree with the same subject. "Me levanto a las seis" (I get up at six), never "Me levanta."

Some of these verbs also have stem changes, which show in all forms except nosotros and vosotros: despertarse (e → ie): me despierto, te despiertas, se despierta, nos despertamos; acostarse (o → ue): me acuesto, nos acostamos; vestirse (e → i): me visto, nos vestimos. The pronoun goes right before the conjugated verb, just like the object pronouns you already know.

Here is Daniela’s normal morning: "Me despierto a las seis, me levanto a las seis y cuarto, me ducho, me cepillo los dientes, me visto y me peino. Desayuno a las siete." (I wake up at six, get up at six fifteen, shower, brush my teeth, get dressed and comb my hair. I eat breakfast at seven.) Notice the last verb: desayunar is not reflexive, because breakfast is not done to yourself.

Look at me cepillo los dientes (I brush my teeth). English says "my teeth"; Spanish says "the teeth," because me already tells you whose they are. The same happens with clothes: me pongo la chaqueta (I put on my jacket), me quito los zapatos (I take off my shoes), me lavo la cara (I wash my face). Writing "mis dientes" is a common English-speaker habit; the article is the natural choice.

Some verbs change meaning when they become reflexive. Ir means to go; irse means to leave. Dormir means to sleep; dormirse means to fall asleep. Poner means to put; ponerse means to put on. Quedar means to remain; quedarse means to stay. "Me voy a las siete y cuarto" (I leave at seven fifteen) does not say where you are going, only that you are leaving.

Daniela’s brother wakes her up: "Mi hermano me despierta." On a normal day she wakes up by herself: "Me despierto a las seis." Both sentences have me, but they are different. In the first, me is a direct object: he wakes me. In the second, me is reflexive: I wake myself. The verb ending tells you which: despierta (he) versus despierto (I).

Many verbs work both ways. Lavar el carro (to wash the car) versus lavarse (to wash oneself). Acostar al bebé (to put the baby to bed) versus acostarse (to go to bed). Vestir a la niña (to dress the little girl) versus vestirse (to get dressed). The test: does the action land on the subject or on someone else? "La mamá viste a la niña" (the mom dresses the girl), but "La niña se viste" (the girl gets dressed).

The placement rules are the ones you already know. Before a conjugated verb: "Me quiero acostar." Attached to an infinitive: "Quiero acostarme." Attached to a gerund with an accent: "Estoy vistiéndome." The pronoun must still match the subject even when it is attached: "Vamos a levantarnos temprano" (we are going to get up early), not levantarse, because the subject is nosotros.

On the bus Tomás says, "Nos ayudamos siempre" (we always help each other). The pronoun nos is recíproco (reciprocal): I help you and you help me. Reciprocal meaning only works with plural subjects, so the pronouns are nos, os and se. "Se escriben todos los días." (They write to each other every day.) "Nos vemos mañana." (We’ll see each other tomorrow, a very common goodbye.)

Some of these sentences could also be reflexive. "Se miran" can mean they look at each other or they look at themselves. Usually the situation makes it obvious, but Spanish can add el uno al otro (each other) for reciprocal or a sí mismos (themselves) for reflexive. "Se ayudan el uno al otro." (They help each other.) "Se hablan a sí mismos." (They talk to themselves.)

Common reciprocal verbs: conocerse (to meet, to know each other), abrazarse (to hug each other), saludarse (to greet each other), quererse (to love each other), llamarse (to call each other), and verse (to see each other). "Mis abuelos se conocieron en Chicago en 1985" (My grandparents met in Chicago in 1985) is the kind of sentence you will hear in many families.

"Lava el pollo. Corta la cebolla. Come." (Wash the chicken. Cut the onion. Eat.) These are commands, and the form is called the imperativo (imperative). For a regular verb the affirmative tú command is simply the present-tense él/ella form: hablar → habla (speak), comer → come (eat), escribir → escribe (write). "Ella habla" and "¡Habla!" look identical; only the context and the tone differ.

Because it borrows the él form, the command keeps any stem change: cerrar → cierra (close), volver → vuelve (come back), pedir → pide (ask for), dormir → duerme (sleep). "Cierra la puerta." (Close the door.) "Vuelve pronto." (Come back soon.) English speakers sometimes use the infinitive as a command (cerrar la puerta), which sounds like a sign, not a person talking.

Spanish often softens a command with por favor (please) or with the person’s name: "Marcos, corta la cebolla, por favor." It is also common to add the pronoun tú after the verb for emphasis: "Hazlo tú" (You do it). Tú commands are for one person you address as tú: a friend, a sibling, a classmate, a child. For a teacher or a stranger, you will use the usted forms later in this chapter.

"Pon aceite en la olla." (Put oil in the pot.) Pon does not come from the él form (pone). It is one of eight irregulares (irregulars) that every Spanish speaker uses daily: decir → di (say, tell), hacer → haz (do, make), ir → ve (go), poner → pon (put), salir → sal (leave, go out), ser → sé (be), tener → ten (have), venir → ven (come).

Most of them are the él form with the last syllable cut off: pone → pon, tiene → ten, viene → ven, sale → sal. That trick does not work for di, haz, ve and sé, which you simply memorize. Notice the accent on sé (be): it separates the command from se the pronoun. "Sé bueno." (Be good.) "Ten paciencia." (Have patience.) "Ven aquí." (Come here.) "Haz la tarea." (Do the homework.)

Ve is doubly tricky: it is the tú command of ir (go) and also the él form of ver (to see). "Ve a la tienda" means go to the store; the a after it is your clue. English speakers often produce "hace la tarea" or "dice la verdad" as commands; those are statements (he does, he says). The commands are haz and di. Say the eight in a row until they sound like one word: di, haz, ve, pon, sal, sé, ten, ven.

"Sécalo bien." (Dry it well.) "Caliéntalo." (Heat it.) In an affirmative command, the pronoun attaches to the end of the verb as one word. Seca + lo → sécalo. Calienta + lo → caliéntalo. Compra + la → cómprala. Because the word is now longer, Spanish writes an accent on the syllable that was stressed before: SE-ca → SÉ-ca-lo.

The one-syllable irregulars also take pronouns: di + me → dime (tell me), haz + lo → hazlo (do it), pon + te → ponte (put on), ven + te → vente (come along). With one pronoun on a one-syllable command, no accent is needed. With two pronouns, the accent returns: dímelo (tell it to me), dámelo (give it to me), pónselo (put it on him). Indirect pronoun first, then direct, exactly as in the last chapter.

Reflexive verbs make some of the most common commands in a home: "Levántate" (get up), "Siéntate" (sit down), "Despiértate" (wake up), "Ponte los zapatos" (put on your shoes), "Lávate las manos" (wash your hands). The reflexive pronoun is always te with tú commands. A frequent mistake is writing the pronoun separately (levanta te) or forgetting the accent (levantate); both are wrong.

"¡No lo pongas todavía!" (Don’t put it in yet!) The verb changed: pon became pongas. Negative commands do not borrow the él form. Instead they start from the present-tense yo form, drop the -o, and add an ending with the opposite vowel: -ar verbs take -es, and -er / -ir verbs take -as. Hablar → hablo → no hables. Comer → como → no comas. Escribir → escribo → no escribas.

Starting from the yo form matters because it carries every irregularity. Poner → pongo → no pongas. Tener → tengo → no tengas. Hacer → hago → no hagas. Decir → digo → no digas. Salir → salgo → no salgas. Venir → vengo → no vengas. Conocer → conozco → no conozcas. Stem changes carry over too: cerrar → cierro → no cierres; pedir → pido → no pidas.

Some verbs need a spelling change to keep the sound: -car → -ques (buscar → no busques), -gar → -gues (llegar → no llegues), -zar → -ces (empezar → no empieces). Four verbs do not end in -o in the yo form and have their own negative commands: ir → no vayas, ser → no seas, dar → no des, estar → no estés. "No seas tímido." (Don’t be shy.) "No vayas solo." (Don’t go alone.)

Compare the two sides: "Ponlo" (put it) but "No lo pongas" (don’t put it). "Levántate" (get up) but "No te levantes" (don’t get up). "Dímelo" (tell it to me) but "No me lo digas" (don’t tell it to me). In an affirmative command the pronouns attach to the end. In a negative command they move in front of the verb, right after no, in the usual order: indirect, then direct.

Because the pronouns are separate words in the negative, there is never an accent to add. English speakers often keep the attached form and write "No ponlo" or "No levántate"; both break the rule. The pattern is always no + pronoun(s) + negative command verb. "No se lo digas a tu mamá." (Don’t tell it to your mom.) "No te preocupes." (Don’t worry.)

Some of the most useful daily phrases follow this pattern: "No te preocupes" (don’t worry), "No me digas" (you don’t say, no way), "No lo olvides" (don’t forget it), "No te vayas" (don’t leave). Try making an affirmative and a negative pair for the same idea: Cómelo / No lo comas; Hazlo / No lo hagas; Siéntate / No te sientes.

A waiter to a customer: "Pase, por favor. Siéntese aquí." (Come in, please. Sit here.) A doctor to a patient: "Respire hondo." (Breathe deeply.) These are usted commands, for one person you address formally. They use the same flipped-vowel form as the negative tú command, minus the final -s: hablar → hable, comer → coma, escribir → escriba. And they use it whether affirmative or negative: hable / no hable.

For ustedes, two or more people, add -n: hablen, coman, escriban. In Latin America ustedes is the plural for everyone, formal or not, so Abuela says "corten la cebolla" to her two grandchildren. All the irregular yo-form verbs behave as expected: tenga / tengan, ponga / pongan, haga / hagan, diga / digan, salga / salgan, venga / vengan. The four special ones: vaya / vayan, sea / sean, dé / den, esté / estén.

Pronouns follow the rule you already know: attached with an accent on the affirmative, in front on the negative. "Siéntese." (Sit down.) "No se siente allí." (Don’t sit there.) "Dígame." (Tell me, also how many people answer the phone in Spain.) "No me diga." (You don’t say.) "Pásenlo bien." (Have a good time, to a group.) The reflexive pronoun for usted and ustedes is se.

"Vamos a ver si les sale," Abuela says: let’s see. When the speaker includes herself in the command, Spanish uses the nosotros command, which means let’s. It is built with the same flipped-vowel form: -ar verbs take -emos, -er and -ir verbs take -amos. Hablar → hablemos (let’s talk). Comer → comamos (let’s eat). Escribir → escribamos (let’s write).

For let’s go, Spanish uses plain vamos in the affirmative, not vayamos. "¡Vamos!" (Let’s go!) In the negative it switches back: "No vayamos." (Let’s not go.) The very common phrase vamos a + infinitive also means let’s: "Vamos a comer" (let’s eat), "Vamos a empezar" (let’s begin). Both comamos and vamos a comer are correct; the vamos a form is more casual in speech.

One spelling detail: when the reflexive pronoun nos attaches to an affirmative nosotros command, the final -s drops before it. Sentemos + nos → sentémonos (let’s sit down), not sentémosnos. Levantemos + nos → levantémonos (let’s get up). Vamos + nos → vámonos (let’s leave), one of the most useful words in the language. The accent appears because the word got longer.

Step back and look at the whole map for one verb, decir (to say). Affirmative tú: di. Negative tú: no digas. Usted: diga / no diga. Ustedes: digan / no digan. Nosotros: digamos / no digamos. Only one square on the map is different from the rest: the affirmative tú command, which borrows the él form or one of the eight irregulars. Every other square uses the flipped-vowel form built from yo.

The pronoun rule is even simpler: affirmative commands take pronouns on the end (with an accent when needed); negative commands take them in front, after no. Dígamelo / No me lo diga. Levántense / No se levanten. Sentémonos / No nos sentemos. Once you see the map, a new verb is not a new problem. Find its yo form, flip the vowel, and you have five of the six squares.

This flipped-vowel form has a name you will meet in the next unit: the presente de subjuntivo (present subjunctive). Commands are one of its jobs. That is why no hables, hable, hablen and hablemos all look alike. Learning commands well now means most of the subjunctive forms are already in your hands before you learn what else they do.

Open a Spanish-language cookbook or a recipe card, and the verbs look different from Abuela’s phone call. "Lave el pollo. Caliente el aceite. Agregue la cebolla y sofría cinco minutos." (Wash the chicken. Heat the oil. Add the onion and sauté five minutes.) Written recipes usually speak to the reader as usted, or they use bare infinitives like a list: lavar, calentar, agregar, sofreír.

The measurement words matter as much as the verbs. Una taza (a cup), una cucharada (a tablespoon), una cucharadita (a teaspoon), un diente de ajo (a clove of garlic), una pizca de sal (a pinch of salt). Cooking verbs you will see constantly: mezclar (to mix), hervir (to boil, e → ie: hierva), freír (to fry), picar (to chop), revolver (to stir, o → ue: revuelva), tapar (to cover), dejar reposar (to let rest).

Arroz con pollo is cooked across the Spanish-speaking world, and every country and every family makes it a little differently: with saffron or annatto for color, with beer or with broth, with peas or without. When you read a recipe from Puerto Rico and one from Peru, the commands are the same forms, but the ingredients tell you where the cook is from.

A visitor in Pilsen asks, "Perdón, ¿dónde está la biblioteca?" (Excuse me, where is the library?) You answer a stranger with usted commands: "Siga derecho dos cuadras. Doble a la izquierda en la esquina. Cruce la calle. Está a la derecha." (Go straight two blocks. Turn left at the corner. Cross the street. It’s on the right.)

The verbs are the usual flipped-vowel forms with their spelling changes: seguir → sigo → siga; doblar → doble; cruzar → cruzo → cruce (z → c before e); subir → suba; bajar → baje. The direction words: a la derecha (to the right), a la izquierda (to the left), derecho or todo recto (straight ahead), la cuadra (the block), la esquina (the corner), el semáforo (the traffic light).

To a friend you switch to tú: "Sigue derecho, dobla a la izquierda, cruza la calle." The negative warns: "No cruces aquí" (don’t cross here), "No doble todavía" (don’t turn yet, formal). Watch the pair derecho / derecha: derecho means straight ahead, and a la derecha means to the right. English speakers mix them constantly, and one wrong letter sends someone the wrong way.