"La Troca del Moño Negro" por Los Originales de San Juan (with lyrics and translation)

Combining Multiple Pronouns

It is possible to have several combinations of objects as well as reflexive pronouns in normal speech.  For example, let’s assume we are referring to los pantalones (the pants) and we resort to the reflexive verb phrase ponerse + article of clothing/other object.  We can combine the pronouns with the reflexive pronoun coming first, following the formula

reflexive pronoun + direct object pronoun + verb

Ella se pone los pantalones.  She puts on the pants.

Ella se los pone.  She puts them on.

Note the placement of the third person plural direct object pronoun (los).  Other examples:

El huésped se quita los zapatos.  The guest takes off his shoes.

El huésped se los quita.  The guest takes them off.

¡Hace frío! Nos ponemos las chaquetas.  It’s cold!  We put on our jackets.

Nos las ponemos.  We put them on. 

We can also combine indirect and direct object pronouns.  The formula for this is

indirect object pronoun + direct object pronoun + verb

¿Me mandaste la carta?  Did you send the letter to me?

Sí, te la mandé la semana pasada.  Yes, I sent it to you last week. 

¿Quién hizo mis quehaceres?  Who did my chores?

Te los hicieron las criadas.  The maids did them for you.

¿Dónde está nuestro carro?  Where is our car?

Os lo traigo, Sr.  I will bring it to you, sir.

Spelling Changes in the 3^rd Person Indirect Object

If the indirect object pronoun and the direct object pronoun are being utilized in the third person in the same clause, then the indirect object pronouns le and les become se.  It is important to understand that the se in this case is NOT a reflexive pronoun, but rather a modified indirect object pronoun created to break up the difficult phonetics of le lo, le los, le la, and le las. 

Here are some examples:

¿Le enviaste el paquete a tu mamá?  Did you send the package to your mom?

Sí, se lo envié esta mañana.  Yes, I sent it to her this morning.

¿Entregaste el informe de tu cliente?  Did you turn in your client’s report?

Sí, se lo entregué ya.  Yes, I already turned it in for him.

¿Ud. me muestra la biblioteca?  Will you show me the library?

Se la mostraré a Ud.  I will show you it.