Me, You, Him, Her, etc.: Direct Object Pronouns I

The direct object is the noun that receives the action of a verb. In the sentence

• Isabel sings a song.
  Isabel canta una canción.

Isabel = the subject  sings/canta = the verb  a song/una canción = the direct object.

Song/canción is what receives the action of Isabel's singing. Song/canción is the direct object.


Here are two more examples:

• My friend reads the newspaper. 
  Mi amigo lee el periódico.

Newspaper/periódico receives the action of reading. Newspaper/periódico is the direct object.

• Yesterday, we saw Bob. 
  Ayer, vimos a Bob. (This a -- known as the personal a -- before Bob is required whenever the direct object noun refers to a person or domestic animal.)

Bob receives the action of seeing. Bob is the direct object.


The direct object answers the questions:

What?	What did Isabel sing? A song.
	What is your friend reading? A newspaper.
Whom?	Whom did you see yesterday? Bob.

In order to avoid repetition, we often replace the direct object noun with a direct object pronoun:

• Isabel sings it.
  Isabel la canta.
  
  My friend reads it.
  Mi amigo lo lee.
  
  Yesterday, we saw him.
  Ayer, lo vimos.

As you know, in Spanish all nouns have grammatical gender and use the articles el/un if they are masculine and la/una if they are feminine. Just as these articles depend on whether the noun is masculine or feminine, in the same way the direct object pronouns also depend on the grammatical gender of the noun.

Let's look at our examples:

Isabel canta la canción.	(The article la tells us that canción is feminine.)
Isabel la canta.	(This la is the direct object pronoun, not the article la of la canción, and means it when the noun is feminine.)
Mi amigo lee el periódico.	(The article el tells us that periódico is masculine.)
Mi amigo lo lee.	(The direct object pronoun lo means it when the noun is masculine.)

Direct object pronouns also depend on whether the noun is singular or plural. The articles los/unos and las/unas indicate plural nouns, and the direct object pronouns must reflect this:

• Isabel canta la canción.  Isabel la canta.
  Isabel canta las canciones.  Isabel las canta.
  Mi amigo lee el periódico.  Mi amigo lo lee.
  Mi amigo lee los periódicos.  Mi amigo los lee.

Here are the direct object pronouns:

me = me	nos = us
te = you	os = you-all
lo/la = he/she, you (formal)	los/las = they, you-all (formal)

Even though there is no gender difference in the formal singular/plural (Ud./Uds.) subject pronouns, when they are replaced by direct object pronouns, lo is used when addressing one male, los when addressing more than one male or a mixed male/female group. La/las are used for addressing one or more than one female:

• Encantado/a de conocerlo a Ud.
  Pleased to meet you (one male/female meeting one male).
  Encantado/a de conocerlos a Uds.
  Pleased to meet you (one male/female meeting more than one male, or mixed male/female group).
  Encantado/a de conocerla a Ud.
  Pleased to meet you (one male/female meeting one female).
  Encantado/a de concerlas a Uds.
  Pleased to meet you (one male/female meeting more than one female).