Combining Object Pronouns

When a sentence has both a direct object and an indirect object, you can replace both with pronouns. Spanish has specific rules for the order and form of these combined pronouns, and one important sound change you must know: le/les becomes se before lo/la/los/las.

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The Basic Rule: Indirect Before Direct

When two object pronouns appear together, the indirect object pronoun always comes first:

Indirect + Direct + Verb

• Me lo das. — You give it to me.
• Te la envío. — I send it to you.
• Nos los traen. — They bring them to us.

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The Se Transformation

Here is the most important rule in this lesson. When the indirect object pronoun is le or les and the direct object pronoun is lo, la, los, or las, the le/les changes to se:

What You Might Expect	What You Actually Say
Le lo doy.	Se lo doy. — I give it to him/her.
Le la compro.	Se la compro. — I buy it for him/her.
Les los muestro.	Se los muestro. — I show them to them.
Les las envío.	Se las envío. — I send them to them.

Why? The combination le lo or les la is difficult to pronounce and sounds awkward. The change to se makes it smoother. This is a phonological rule, not a grammatical choice.

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Clarifying "Se" with A + Person

Because se can now mean "to him," "to her," "to you (formal)," "to them," or "to you all (formal)," you often need to clarify:

• Se lo doy a él. — I give it to him.
• Se lo doy a ella. — I give it to her.
• Se lo doy a usted. — I give it to you (formal).
• Se los doy a ellos. — I give them to them.
• Se la doy a María. — I give it to María.

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Complete Combination Table

Here is a reference table showing all possible combinations of indirect + direct object pronouns:

Indirect \ Direct	lo	la	los	las
me	me lo	me la	me los	me las
te	te lo	te la	te los	te las
le → se	se lo	se la	se los	se las
nos	nos lo	nos la	nos los	nos las
os	os lo	os la	os los	os las
les → se	se lo	se la	se los	se las

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Placement with Combined Pronouns

The placement rules from previous lessons still apply, but now with two pronouns together. They are never separated.

Before a Conjugated Verb

Both pronouns go before the verb:

• Me lo das. — You give it to me.
• Se la compro. — I buy it for him/her.
• Nos los envían. — They send them to us.

Attached to an Infinitive

Both pronouns attach to the end of the infinitive (as one word), or both go before the conjugated verb: