Indirect object pronouns (me, te, le, nos, os, les)

Le doy un regalo a mi madre.I give my mother a gift. / I give a gift to my mother.

An indirect object pronoun says who benefits from an action, or who it's directed at — the person something is given, told, written, or shown to. It's a different job from a direct object pronoun, which stands for the thing directly acted on.

Quick shortcut: me, te, le, nos, os, les — usually placed right before the conjugated verb; with affirmative commands, attached to the end. Unlike lo/la/los/las, le and les don't change for gender — only for number.

The indirect object pronouns

Le escribo un correo. (I write him/her/you an email.) Les mando el paquete. (I send them/you all the package.) Because le and les don't show gender, the sentence alone doesn't tell you whether le means "to him," "to her," or "to formal you" — context, or an added a + name, fills that in.

Verbs that often take an indirect object

Many common verbs naturally involve someone the action is done to or for: dar (to give), decir (to say/tell), escribir (to write), mandar (to send), explicar (to explain), preguntar (to ask), mostrar (to show), regalar (to give as a gift), comprar (to buy for someone).

Le doy las gracias. (I thank him/her/you.) Nos explica la lección. (He/she explains the lesson to us.) ¿Qué le vas a regalar? (What are you going to give him/her as a gift?)

Clarifying or emphasizing with a + [person]

Because le and les are ambiguous, Spanish very often adds a + the person's name or a pronoun alongside the pronoun, even when the sentence would already be grammatical without the pronoun (Doy un regalo a mi madre is perfectly fine on its own). Adding le anyway — Le doy un regalo a mi madre — is extremely common in everyday speech and considered normal, not redundant the way it would sound in English:

Le doy un regalo a mi madre. (I give a gift to my mother.) Les escribo una carta a mis abuelos. (I write a letter to my grandparents.) A ti te digo la verdad. (To you, I tell the truth — used for emphasis or contrast.)

When the a + person phrase comes before the verb instead of after it, the pronoun is no longer optional: A mi madre, le doy un regalo keeps le, because Spanish doesn't allow a fronted object phrase to stand completely alone.

Common mistakes

• ❌ La doy un regalo a mi madre. → ✅ Le doy un regalo a mi madre. (an indirect object always takes le/les, never lo/la, regardless of gender)
• ❌ A mi madre, doy un regalo. → ✅ A mi madre, le doy un regalo. (once the indirect object is fronted before the verb, the pronoun is required — it can't be left out just because the person is already named)
• ❌ Quiero le escribir. → ✅ Quiero escribirle. / Le quiero escribir. (with an infinitive, the pronoun attaches to its end or moves before the first conjugated verb, exactly like a direct object pronoun)
• ❌ Les doy el regalo a mi madre. (meaning to give it to one mother) → ✅ Le doy el regalo a mi madre. (les is plural — it doesn't match a single person, even though les and le look similar)

Quick check

Complete each sentence with the correct indirect object pronoun.

1. (A mí) ___ explican la tarea.
2. (A ti) ___ escribo un mensaje.
3. (A Pedro) ___ doy las gracias.
4. (A nosotros) ___ muestran las fotos.
5. (A mis amigos) ___ mando una invitación.

Key takeaways

• Indirect object pronouns (me, te, le, nos, os, les) say to/for whom something is done.
• le/les don't change for gender, only number — unlike lo/la/los/las.
• Spanish often adds a + the person's name to clarify who's meant; with the phrase after the verb the pronoun is common but optional, while with the phrase fronted before the verb the pronoun is required.
• With an infinitive or gerund, the pronoun can go before the first verb or attach to the end; with an affirmative command, it always attaches to the end.