Complement pronouns in Spanish (Los pronombres complemento)

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You complement pronouns belong to the category of personal pronouns in Spanish language. Grammatically, they are classified as unstressed pronouns.— of the oblique case in Portuguese —, due to the need to join a verb to form an accentuated unit.

These pronouns are frequently used in the Spanish language fulfilling the functions of direct object, indirect object and reflexive pronoun — accompanying the reflexive verbs. The list is quite short, but there are certain rules that can be confusing for Portuguese speakers, such as the combination of direct and indirect object pronouns, pronominal placement, pronoun doubling, and certain linguistic phenomena like the leism, secularism and the loism.

In this article, we will approach the use of unstressed pronouns as a complement — that is, replacing an element that is not wanted to be repeated in the speech. Let's go? keep reading and ¡échale hanas!

Read too: The Whys in Spanish

Topics of this article

1 - Types of complement pronouns
2 - Combination of direct and indirect complement pronouns

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3 - How does pronominal placement occur in Spanish?
4 - Duplication of pronouns in Spanish
5 - Leism, Laism and Loism
6 - Solved exercises on complement pronouns in Spanish

Types of Complementary Pronouns

You complement pronouns form part of personal pronouns, which have the function of designating the participants of the discourse — who speaks, with whom one speaks, of whom or of what one speaks. According to the syntactic function they perform, personal pronouns can be of the straight case — the subject pronouns, for example — or the oblique case — unstressed and stressed. Complementary pronouns belong to this last category.

The unstressed pronouns in Spanish are classified into direct complement pronouns — which receive the action of the verb directly, usually not preceded by preposition — and indirect — preceded by prepositions The or for.

see below list of direct and indirect complement pronouns:

Personal pronoun to which reference is made	direct complement	indirect complement
Yo	Me	Me
you/you	You	You
he/she/usted	Lo, la*	Read, if*
Ours	Us	Us
you	You	You
Ellos/ellas/ustedes	Them, them*	Les, se*

*The 3rd person singular and plural pronouns are the only ones that change.

direct complement pronouns

In general, direct complement pronouns replace or emphasize the direct object, which can be a person, a being, a thing or a situation.

All the hammers, me find at home.
(Every Tuesday, you can find me at my house.)

You salute your friend, José Torres.
(His friend, José Torres, greets you.)

This book is very good, Leeit.
(This book is very good, read it/read it/read it.)

Maria us call.
(María called us / us / she called us.)

Carlos and Maria, where lyou meeting?
(Where do I find Carlos and Maria?)

I buy onions, they have to be peeledlas.
(I bought onions, you have to peel/peel them.)

the pronoun it (but not there, them, them) can fulfill the attribute function:

He was an influential person, but not yet it es.
(He was an influential person, but he is no longer.)

The direct object is not preceded by a preposition — that is why it is direct, as it does not need an intermediary —, except when it is a person. Note the examples that follow:

Do not stop now... There's more after the publicity ;)

→ direct complement = thing

I like to see the cooking programs. (I like to watch cooking shows.)
I like to seethem.(I like to see them / see them.)

Usually in the enchufado dejo the loader de la compu. (I usually don't leave my notebook charger plugged in.)
usually not it I left stuffed. (I usually don't leave it on/leave it plugged in.)

→ Direct complement = persona the being

On the tele siempre veo to the new chefs de cuisine.(I always see the new chefs on TV.)

On the tele always them see. (Always see them / see them on TV.)

dejemy little girl At home. (I left my dog at home.)
LThe leave at home. (I left her / I left her at home.)

As you saw in the examples, the use of pronouns is much more common in Spanish than in Portuguese. In some situations, it may seem unnecessary to use them, as in the case of the phrase This book is very good, read it. If a book has already been mentioned, of course it is the one I would like the other person to read. However, the Spanish language understands that this object needs to be retrieved through the pronoun, so that its use is mandatory and recurrent in both written and spoken language.

Now let's see the indirect complement pronouns.

Indirect complement pronouns

these pronouns replace the indirect object, that is, the one that is always preceded by a preposition. In general, they refer to people or beings.

— What do I tell you Juan? (What did Juan tell you?)
—MeI say I invited you to the party. (He told me to invite you to the party.)

— I couldn't meet with Angela, can you returnShe readsyour cell phone? (Couldn't find Angela, can you return her cell phone?)

Combination of direct and indirect complement pronouns

As you have seen, the use of complement pronouns is very common in Spanish, and it is even possible to combine them to replace two objects — one direct and one indirect — in the same sentence. When this happens, the indirect complement pronoun precedes the direct complement. See the example:

Buy a bookfor you.(I bought you a book.)
Youitbuy.

In the given example, the pronoun you— which is indirect complement — replaces for you; in turn, the pronoun itreplaces a book. Easy to remember, isn't it? Let's look at another example:

— ¿Youyou bought one new computer?(Did you buy a new computer?)
— yes, meit bought a month ago. (Yes, I bought it a month ago.)

In this second example, the pronoun itreplaces new computer, while me replaces you. This combination is quite simple, but when it comes to two 3-pronouns^The person, we have to make a small modification. Let's see how this works. Consider the following sentence:

deje my notebookto Carolina.
(I left my notebook for Carolina.)

If we only want to replace the indirect object — Carolina — by a pronoun, the sentence looks like this:

Ledeje my notebook.
(I left her my notebook / Gave her my notebook.)

Now, if we only want to replace the direct object — a book —, the sentence looks like this:

Lo deje to Carolina.(I left it to Carolina.)

If we want to replace the two objects, the indirect complement pronoun She readsis replaced by if:

if itdeje.
(I left it.)

This happens both in the singular and in the plural:

—Did you leave you pointto Matthew?(Did you leave your notes for Matheus?)
— yes, ifthem deje.(Yes, I left them.)

as the pronoun if has no gender or number mark, it is common that, in oral language, these marks are attributed to the direct complement pronoun (lo, los, los, los). This practice is common in the Americas and the Canary Islands, but is not recommended by normative grammar:

—Did you say to the children que salimos a las dos?(Did you tell the kids we left at two?)
—yes, sand them say. (Yes I said it.)

In the example, themis put in the plural to agree with the children, even though this is not the replaced object. This practice is common in many American countries and in the Canary Islands, but is not recommended by the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE).

Read too: Spanish syllabic division

How does pronominal placement occur in Spanish?

Direct and indirect complement pronouns are always placed in proclitic position — that is, before the verb —, except in the following cases:

a) With verbs in the infinitive, gerund or affirmative imperative: in this case, the pronouns go in an enclitic position — after the verb and joined to it without a hyphen.

It will be better to decideShe reads all the truth.
(It will be better to tell you the whole truth.)

callingyou you're not going to solve anything.
(By staying silent, you won't solve anything.)

Pasame this magazine, please.
(Hand me this magazine, please.)

In proclitic position, it is possible that only one pronoun coordinates two verbs that share it:

the smell She reads mareaba y agradaba a la vez.
(The smell sickened and pleased him at the same time.)

In enclitic position this is not possible, as the pronouns only form a graphic word with the verb:

It's a very big article. I need time to readit and summarizeit.
(It is a very large article. I need time to read and summarize it.)

b) When combined with one or more verbs, they can come in proclitic or enclitic position, but never between the two verbs:

less I want to tell you something.
I want to tellthey one thing.
(I want to tell you something.)

According to the RAE, the use of an enclitic pronoun with a conjugated verb is archaic in written language and may also appear in more formal registers of oral expression. However, none of the uses are encouraged by academia.

Doubling pronouns in Spanish

In Spanish, it is mandatory to double the direct or indirect complement when they represent tonic personal pronouns preceded by the preposition The. Thus, the following constructions are accepted:

La vieron.
La came to her.
(They saw her. / They saw her.)

I want you.
(They love you. / They love you.)

However, the following sentences are ungrammatical:

* Came to her.
* I want you.

OJO! the pronoun ustedfrequently admits the variant without duplication, mainly in formal registers. See the example:

What gives me strength to follow is helping us.
(What gives me the strength to carry on is helping you.)

However, one would not say *… help you.

Duplication is also mandatory when dealing with a nominal group or dislocated constructions, that is, those that function as the initial topic. See the examples:

Lucía la vieron salir.
(They saw Lucia leave.)

The periodical lo buy my son.
(My son buys the newspaper.)

Leism, laism It is loism

As stated earlier, the only unstressed pronouns that vary are those of 3^The singular and plural person. the pronouns there It is las replace female direct objects; it It is them replace the male ones; lastly, the pronouns She readsIt is they are of indirect complement and do not have a gender mark, only a number mark.

There are certain situations where these pronouns are interchanged. Let's look at the cases.

The) Leism: use of pronoun She reads as a direct complement:

Juana le vieron en el parque.
(They saw Joana in the park.)

I came to return this book because I read it.
(I came to return this book because I already read it/read it.)

The only way to leism grammatically accepted is the alternation with masculine pronouns it It is them:

Carlos saw Diego and he/she hugged him.
(Carlos saw Diego and hugged him.)

B) laism: use of there It is las instead of he/she:

I found María and she said she called me.
(I found Maria and told her to call me.)

w) Loism: use of itIt is them instead of he/she. Its occurrence is common in certain regions of Castile and in parts of the Andes where Quechua or Aymara is spoken.

I found Juan and told him he called me.
(I found Juan and told him to call me.)

Read too: possessive pronouns in spanish

Solved exercises on Spanish complement pronouns

question 01

Replace the fragment in bold by the appropriate direct complement pronoun.

a) Leo of periodicals all days.

b) listen the news in my car.

c) Call by telephone my mommy and me.

d) ¿Sabrá sellar the letter?

e) They will write an clarifying mail.

Solution:

a) Los leo todos los días.

b) Las escucho en mi auto.

c) Call us by telephone.

d) Will you know how to sell them? / ¿Las sabrá sellar?

e) Ellos lo escribirán.

Question 02

(UFMG 2011 – adapted) Read the following text and continue doing what you ask.

Pidieron detention of the three accused of abusing a minor in General Villegas

¹ Trenque Lauquen inspector Fabio Arcomano today ordered the arrest of the three men who filmed themselves in sexual scenes with a 14-year-old teenager and then broadcast the video by Internet, in the Buenos Aires locality of General Villegas.

Arcomano requested this measure to the Juez de Garantías Gerardo Palacios Córdoba that

⁵ Appear to the persons involved, accused of the crimes of “aggravated sexual abuse and corruption of minors”.

The inspector stated that the testimonial that the teenager gave ayer was “credible” and She reads “allowed to form a complete criminal table” of the case, which occurred in the Buenos Aires city of General Villegas.

In statements on the C5N channel, the public official also accused two of them

¹⁰ men to spread the “pornographic material” in the web. The judge Palacios Córdoba counts with “five days” able to solve the situation of the men, who are between 25 and 30 years old and appear in sexual scenes with the teenager.

Meanwhile, during the afternoon, a controversial march took place in support of three imputed men. “Eso hay que probarlo”, said the uncle of one of them and affirmed not being avergonzado for ¹⁵it that I made her nephew: “Vergüenza should feel the priests because they knew what she was” as a teenager, she said.

The man said that he doesn't know where his nephew is, but he assured that he “will surrender to justice” and that he “has to pay for what he did”, even though he asked that “no She reads add more crimes”. The wife of another of the imputed ones said that the men “are innocent” and she didn't want to confirm it ²⁰ her husband was one of those who appeared in the filming having sex with the student, who ayer confirmed the abuse in a judicial psychological expert.

The march brought together about three people, including family members and friends of the accused. “I am mother and I want an equitable justice”, because “one of the accused boys has children”, says a vecina that participated in the mobilization.

Worried family

²⁵ After the declaration of her daughter in court, the mother of a 14-year-old minor was broken in the middle and assured that her family was destroyed. “My girl is shocked and she has a fear that she will pass something on the street”, she says to C5N Blanca Lescano, the mother of the teenager that she appears in the video of the abuse that spread through the cell phones of the vecinos and that generated a scandal in the pueblo.

³⁰ The woman says that her family feels “fear, vergüenza and scolding”, since the society of General Villegas stigmatized them, although she assured that they would not move to another city.

IDENTIFIQUEen el texto y ESCRIBAen los huecos el referente de los siguientes pronouns.

(The first exercise is put as an example.)

a) le (line 8) = fiscal

b) lo (line 15) =

c) le (line 18) =

d) le (line 27) =

e) them (line 30) =

Solution:

a) fiscal

b) lo (line 15) = the abuse

c) le (line 18) = nephew

d) le (line 27) = hija