(6) Direct Object Pronouns and Use of the Personal a

Question 1

Note

Answer 1

La paella es un plato típico de Valencia, España, pero la comen los latinoamericanos también. Los valencianos la preparan con arroz, verduras, pollo y mariscos, los ingredients principales. Los compran frescos en el Mercado y pasan varias horas preparando la paella. ¿Conoces a alguien de Valencia? Tal vez si lo/la visitas, te prepara una paella.

Paella is a typical dish from Valencia, Spain, but Latin Americans can eat it, too. Valencians prepare it with rice, vegetables, chicken, and seafood, the main ingredients. They buy them fresh at the market and spend several hours preparing the paella. Do you know anyone from Valencia? Maybe if you visit him/her, s/he will make a paella for you.

Question 2

In English, direct objects usually follow the verb and answer the questions whom? Or what?

Answer 2

• Maybe if you visit him/her, (s)he will make a paella for you to try [If you visit whom? If you visit him/her (someone from Valencia that you know)]
• Valencians prepare paella. They prepare it with fresh ingredients. [They prepare what? They prepare paella.]

Question 3

Spanish has flexible word order, which means that a noun or noun phrase that functions as a direct object might not always follow the verb; in some cases it can come before the verb and even before the subject! To avoid confusion about who the subject is and who the object is, Spanish speakers mark a person as the direct object (the whom) by using the personal a. Note that the personal a does not appear in English translations:

Answer 3

• ¿Conoces a alguien de Valencia? [Do you know anyone from Valencia?]
• ¿Invitamos a nuestros amigos a cenar? [Should we invite our friends to dinner?]

Question 4

La paella is a nouns phrase that functions as the direct object and can be replaced by the direct object pronoun it to avoid repeating the same phrase (la paella) unnecessarily. As such, the direct object pronoun in Spanish has the same function as in English.

However, unlike in English, the Spanish direct object pronoun (in bold) precedes the conjugated verb (underlined):

• la comen = they eat it,
• los compran = they buy them.

The pronoun form corresponds in person, gender, and number to the noun it replaces

Answer 4

Subject Pronoun → Indirect Object Pronoun → Translation

• Yo → **Me **→ Me
• Tú → **Te **→ You
• Vos → **Vos **→ You
• Él/Ella/Ud. → Lo/La → Him/you/it
• Nosotros/Nosotras → **Nos **→ Us
• Vosotros/Vosotras → **Os **→ You
• Ellos/Ellas/Uds. → Los/Las → Them/you

Question 5

Placement of Direct Object Pronouns: In Spanish, direct object pronouns are placed:

(1) before the conjugated verb
(2) attached to an infinitive
(3) attached to the present participle or
(4) attached to an affirmative command, a form you’ll learn later in this chapter.

Answer 5

• La **preparan [They prepare it]
• Van a preparala [They are going to prepare it]
• Están preparándola [They are preparing it]
• Prepárla [Prepare it]

Question 6

Adding a Written Accent to Present Participles: When you attach a direct object, indirect object, or reflexive pronoun to a present participle or an affirmative command, you must write an accent over the stressed vowel to retain the stress on the same syllable. In present participles, the stressed vowel is “a” in “-ando” or the “e” in “-iendo”

Answer 6

• Preparando → preparándola
• Comiendo → comiéndola
• Sirviendo → sirviéndola