Learning Spanish for Deplorable Tankies

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Could someone help me understand when to use lo, le, la, los, les and las? (self.learnspanish)

submitted 1 year ago by SomeoneElse to c/[email protected]

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This is probably really simple but I keep getting confused by which form I’m meant to use. Do I match it to the person I’m talking about or do I match it to the gender of the noun? And which part of the sentence do I use to determine whether I use the singular or plural?

For example “Le mando notas” means I send him notes. What about a singular note? If I’m sending her notes does it become la? If I was sending them notes would it be las or les? If notas is feminine why don’t I use la?

Is there a simple way to remember whatever the rule is? Thanks!

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

not a native speaker, but my 2 centavos are (very simplified):

lo/la: this is just him/her or genderized "it"
le: is to him / to her
...s: same but plural

in use:

Le mando notas: i send notes to him
Le mando las: I send them (as in the notes, female) to him
perplexingly, le can point at female or male objects, it's a indirect object pronoun for both sexes

maybe that makes it clearer:
https://www.mytutor.co.uk/answers/5950/A-Level/Spanish/When-is-it-right-to-use-lo-la-and-le-in-Spanish/

Edit: I did like five edits to that already, I agree this shit is confusing.

[–] frosty99c 2 points 1 year ago

It would be Le las mando (I send them (to) him). The pronouns always go before the verb.

Le is the indirect pronoun. So, to him, for him, with him, etc. This almost always refers to a person/pet/etc. It it the thing the verb is happening to.

Lo(s)/la(s) is the direct object. It's the target of the verb (I send what? I send notes = las mando). These can be things or people. (I called him = lo llamé).

[–] SomeoneElse 1 points 1 year ago

Your edit really made me laugh! Thank you for making me feel less stupid!

And thank you for the explanation. It’s definitely “le” being gender neutral that was confusing me. You’re going to gender a table but not him/her?! 🤷🏼‍♀️ thank you again!