Section One - Part E

Dando ordenes o instrucciones
When you tell someone else what to do, you are giving an order or a command. We have seen these before. Do you remember?

Pablo, ¡corre rápido!

Susana, ¡come más fruta!

¿Recuerdas estos imperativos? Do you remember these imperative verbs?

Remember the command Dame el billete that we had in the last unit?

Before we go on, maybe we should review the object pronouns. There are two types:

The Direct Object Pronouns are:

me, te, lo, la, nos, os, las, los

The Indirect Object Pronouns are:

me, te, le, nos, os, les

NB: A direct object pronoun in Spanish is called un complemento de objeto directo. An indirect object pronoun is called un complemento de objeto indirecto.

Getting back to Dame el billete.

Remember that we talked about in affirmative commands, the pronoun (if there is one) is attached to the command form. You have the command verb-- Da -- and the pronoun -- me -- and it becomes Dame.

¡Pásame el libro!

¡Apúrate!

Did you also notice the accent marks that occur frequently with these verbs? You will remember the basic rules of Spanish pronunciation and accentuation....

• If the word ends in a vowel, n or s, the stress naturally falls on the next to the last syllable. So, in pasa, what is the next to the last syllable? pa. When we add another syllable to the word (me), now the next to the last syllable has moved. What is it now? sa. If we want the stress to fall where it would have before we added the extra syllable, we have to write it on. Therefore, pásame requires an extra accent written in. Most verbs will require a written accent when you add syllables to them.

Now, what happens when there are two pronouns in a sentence? What happens if I want to replace el billete with a pronoun. What goes where? The rule is quite simple. Indirect precedes direct.

So now we have two object pronouns. Me and lo (el billete). Which is indirect? Me. It goes first.

¡Dámelo!

In commands, they would both be hooked on the end of the verb as above. In a regular statement, both come before the verb:

Me lo da.

Indirect still precedes direct.

There is a slight change we have to make with the double pronouns when they are both going to begin with "L." When they will both begin with L (le lo, le la, les los, etc.), the first one (indirect) becomes "se." Imagine that in the sentence above, you are giving the ticket to him.

Se lo da.

Tú is the subject pronoun. Tu billete is the direct object noun. al agente is the indirect object noun.

Tú se lo das.

Tú no se lo das.

What would the command be in the affirmative (Give it to her!)?     ¡Dáselo!

What would the command be in the negative (Don't give it to her)?     ¡No se lo des!

Do the same with these sentences: 1. make them into an affirmative command; and 2. into a negative command.

A. Tú me devuelves el pasaporte.

1. Affirmative command:     ¡Devuélvemelo!
2. Negative command:     ¡No me lo devuelvas!

B. Ud. nos da dinero.

1. Affirmative command:     ¡Dénoslo!
2. Negative command:     ¡No nos lo des!

C. Uds. dan la llave a nuestros amigos.

1. Affirmative command:     ¡Dénsela!
2. Negative command:     ¡No se la den!

Go take the pronoun quiz to be sure you have understood.

Avanza a 1f.