(MEDC) - Using Object Pronouns with Commands Lesson

Using Object Pronouns with Commands

Let's begin the studies of how to use object pronouns with commands by watching this video lesson. This video teaches us a great rhyming tool that helps us determine the order of the placement of the pronouns we will use. Be prepared to take notes. You can pause this video lesson at any time. 

Pronouns have some special rules when being used along with commands. The basic rule is that any pronoun needs to be attached to the end of an  affirmative  command but come in front of a  negative command. Consider the command, "Tell me!" The verb we will use is  decir and  me  is our indirect object pronoun. You will now see examples with all of the command forms studied in this module.

Chart showing how pronouns are used with commands. Heading left to right is tú form, usted form, ustedes form. Chart left to right, affirmative, dime, digame, diganme, negative, no me digas, no me diga, no me digan

If you look closely, you may have noticed that some accent marks suddenly appeared in the affirmative  usted  and  ustedes  commands. These are not typos. We don't want to change the natural pronunciation of our command (diga  and  digan) even though we're adding a syllable to it. To preserve the original stress, we write an accent mark on the vowel that would be stressed if there weren't an object attached. The "i" in dime  does not need an accent mark because even with the object attached, the stress still falls in the proper place    

The same rules apply to commands with both indirect and direct object pronouns. Consider the command, "Tell it to me!" In addition to our IOP, "me," we're going to add a DOP, "it." (Since we're not sure what "it" refers to, we'll use  lo.):

Commands with both indirect and direct object pronouns chart. Heading from left to right, tú form, usted form, ustedes form. Chart from left to right, affirmative, dimelo, digamelo, diganmelo, negative, no me lo digas, no me lo diga, no me lo digan

This time we can't avoid using an accent mark on the  tú  form command, because now we're adding two syllables to the  di. The same rules apply to  nosotros  and  vosotros  commands. Consider the commands, "Let's do it!" and "Do it!" (as well as their negative counterparts):  

Nosotros and Vosotros commands chart. Heading from left to right, nosotros form, vosotros form. Chart from left to right, affirmative, hagámoslo, hácedlo, negative, no lo hagamos, no lo hagáis

 

Using Reflexive Pronouns with Commands  

Occasionally we'll want to use a reflexive verb as a command. The reflexive pronouns follow the same pattern as object pronouns. Let's look at  alegrarse  (to be happy) in command form (we'll look at the negatives as well even though that wouldn't be a very nice command):

Reflexive verb as a command and reflexive pronoun chart. Heading from left to right, tú form, usted form, ustedes form, affirmative, alégrate, alégrese, alégrense, negative no te alegres, no se alegre, no se alegren

 

The  nosotros  and  vosotros  commands are slightly different when using a reflexive pronoun. To make pronunciation a bit easier, we're going to drop the   "-s"   from the affirmative nosotros command and the   "-d" from the affirmative vosotros command before adding the reflexive pronoun. The negative commands are unaffected:  

Nosotros and vosotros form commands chart. Heading from left to right nosostros form, vosotros form. Chart from left to right affirmative, alegrémonos, alegraos, negative, no nos alegremos, no os alegréis

One exception to the last rule is the verb rise. The vosotros command form retains the "d":  idos. Also, reflexive "-ir" verbs require you to add an accent mark in the  vosotros  form:  

Chart for the verb irse, a command exception. Heading from left to right, irse, divertirse, sentirse, vestirse. Chart from left to right, idos divertíos, sentíos, vestíos

 

Vamos a Practicar

Please complete the following activity.

 

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