Download Direct Objects

Direct Objects
Direct objects receive the action of a verb in a sentence.
Consider these sentences:
John eats the tomato.
Carol knows your teacher.
To identify a direct object in a sentence you can ask WHO or WHAT receives the action.
For example:
What does John eat? the tomato
The tomato is the direct object of the sentence.
Who does Carol know? your teacher
Your teacher is the direct object of the sentence.
Direct object pronouns are used to replace a noun that receives the action of a verb.
For example:
John eats it. Carol knows her.
In Spanish, direct object pronouns must agree with the noun they replace in gender and
number.
These are the pronouns:
me
nos
te
os
lo, la
los, las
Notice that only four of the direct object pronouns in Spanish match gender: lo, la, los,
and las.
Also remember that when the direct object is a person, the pronoun you use must
match the person receiving the action, not the person performing it.
Here are the same examples in Spanish:
John come el tomate.
Carol conoce a tu maestra.
John lo come.
Carol la conoce.
Note: As you can see, the word order changes. The pronoun is placed before a
conjugated verb.
Note: Object pronouns can also be attached to the end of infinitive verbs and present
participle:
Yo quiero verlo.
I want to see him.
Yo estoy viéndolo. I am seeing him.
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