Lo, la, le and se lo: how not to name the thing twice
In a shop you cannot manage without pronouns: the thing is named once and then talked about for five sentences. Spanish keeps two rows. Whom or what: lo, la, los, las. To whom: le, les. For example: “¿Me lo puede envolver para regalo?” — Could you wrap it for me as a gift?. A rule from the Spanish course: worked out on examples, not memorized as a wording.
How it works
In a shop you cannot manage without pronouns: the thing is named once and then talked about for five sentences. Spanish keeps two rows. Whom or what: lo, la, los, las. To whom: le, les.
¿El jersey? Lo compré ayer. ¿La talla? No la tengo. Le he dado el ticket a la cajera. Their place is fixed, in front of the verb: lo quiero, no lo veo.
With two pronouns the order is set: to whom first, then what. Me lo das, te la enseño. And le before lo turns into se: se lo doy, never le lo doy.
One more thing English never does. Even when the thing is named at the front, the pronoun still goes in: el ticket lo guardo yo.
Table
| role | forms | example | meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| direct | lo, la, los, las | lo compro | I'm buying it |
| indirect | me, te, le, nos, os, les | le doy el ticket | I give him the receipt |
| two in a row | indirect + direct | me lo das | you give it to me |
| le + lo | se lo | se lo doy | I give it to him |
| with an infinitive | attached or in front | voy a comprarlo / lo voy a comprar | I'm going to buy it |
| with a command | attached, one word | dámelo | give it to me |
By example
- ¿Me lo puede envolver para regalo?Could you wrap it for me as a gift?
- El ticket se lo di a mi mujer, ella lo guarda todoI gave the receipt to my wife — she keeps everything
- Esta talla no me vale, ¿me la cambia por la siguiente?This size does not fit me — will you swap it for the next one?
How the rule settles in your head
A rule is not memorized from an explanation. It is memorized from an attempt to use it and a mistake — that is why the app delivers it mixed in with words, not as a separate lesson: it resurfaces exactly where you forgot it.
Frequently asked
Lo vs le in Spanish?
In a shop you cannot manage without pronouns: the thing is named once and then talked about for five sentences. Spanish keeps two rows. Whom or what: lo, la, los, las. To whom: le, les.
Why se lo and not le lo?
¿El jersey? Lo compré ayer. ¿La talla? No la tengo. Le he dado el ticket a la cajera. Their place is fixed, in front of the verb: lo quiero, no lo veo.
Dámelo or me lo das?
With two pronouns the order is set: to whom first, then what. Me lo das, te la enseño. And le before lo turns into se: se lo doy, never le lo doy.
Lo, la or le?
One more thing English never does. Even when the thing is named at the front, the pronoun still goes in: el ticket lo guardo yo.
Where lo and la go with an infinitive?
One more thing English never does. Even when the thing is named at the front, the pronoun still goes in: el ticket lo guardo yo.
What does it look like in an example sentence Spanish?
“¿Me lo puede envolver para regalo?” — Could you wrap it for me as a gift?. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.