The indirect object pronoun in Spanish names the person who receives something, benefits from an action, or is affected by it. In English you usually say to me, for her, to them; in Spanish you fold those meanings into a single short pronoun that hooks onto the verb. I'm writing him a letter is Le escribo una carta — no preposition, no extra word, the le alone tells you who the letter is going to. This page lays out the six forms used in Spain (including os), explains the situations where Spanish needs the indirect object and English doesn't, and gives you the foundation for everything else the pronoun system will throw at you.
The six forms
Peninsular Spanish uses six indirect object pronouns, one for each grammatical person. They are the same shape as the direct object pronouns in 1st and 2nd person — me, te, nos, os do double duty — but split off in the 3rd person, which is where the system gets interesting.
| Person | Pronoun | Refers to |
|---|---|---|
| 1st singular | me | to/for me |
| 2nd singular informal | te | to/for you |
| 3rd singular | le | to/for him, her, it, you (usted) |
| 1st plural | nos | to/for us |
| 2nd plural informal (Spain) | os | to/for you all (vosotros) |
| 3rd plural | les | to/for them, you all (ustedes) |
Notice that le and les do not encode gender. The same le refers to him, to her, to a child of unknown gender, or to a formal "you" — context disambiguates. This is unlike the direct object pronouns, where the 3rd person carries a gender distinction (lo/la, los/las).
The core meaning: recipient or beneficiary
The indirect object pronoun answers the question to whom? or for whom? the action is done. In the clearest cases, it marks the recipient of a transfer.
Te he comprado un libro.
I bought you a book.
Le mandé un mensaje esta mañana.
I sent him/her a message this morning.
Os traigo un regalo de Lisboa.
I'm bringing you all a gift from Lisbon.
Nos van a enseñar las fotos después de cenar.
They're going to show us the photos after dinner.
In each case, there is also a direct object — un libro, un mensaje, un regalo, las fotos — and the indirect object names the person who gets it. English usually allows two word orders for the same idea (I bought you a book or I bought a book for you); Spanish almost always uses the pronoun.
With verbs of saying, asking, answering
Verbs of communication — decir, contar, preguntar, contestar, explicar, pedir, gritar, escribir, llamar — take an indirect object for the person being addressed. This is one of the most frequent uses of the indirect object pronoun in everyday Spanish.
No me digas que se te ha olvidado otra vez.
Don't tell me you forgot again.
¿Le has preguntado a tu jefe?
Have you asked your boss?
Les expliqué la situación, pero no me hicieron caso.
I explained the situation to them, but they didn't pay any attention.
Os cuento lo que pasó cuando lleguéis.
I'll tell you all what happened when you arrive.
Note that in Le has preguntado a tu jefe the indirect object appears both as a pronoun (le) and as a full noun phrase (a tu jefe). That doubling is a feature, not a redundancy — see indirect object doubling.
The big surprise for English speakers: gustar-type verbs
This is where Spanish leaves English behind. Verbs like gustar (to please), encantar (to delight), doler (to hurt), interesar (to interest), importar (to matter), molestar (to bother), faltar (to be lacking), and quedar (to remain) require an indirect object pronoun. The construction reverses the English subject and object: the thing that "pleases" is the grammatical subject, and the person who experiences the pleasure is the indirect object.
Me gusta el café por la mañana.
I like coffee in the morning. (literally: Coffee pleases me in the morning.)
A mi hermano le encanta el cine de los noventa.
My brother loves nineties cinema.
Nos duele la cabeza después de tanto ruido.
Our heads hurt after so much noise.
¿Os interesa la propuesta o no?
Are you all interested in the proposal or not?
You cannot say Yo gusto café — that means I'm pleasing coffee, which is nonsense. The indirect object pronoun is obligatory in this family, and it agrees with the experiencer, not with the thing experienced.
Verbs that take an indirect object in Spanish but not in English
Several Spanish verbs lexicalise an indirect object where English uses a transitive structure or a different preposition.
| Spanish | English equivalent | Example |
|---|---|---|
| preguntar a alguien | to ask someone | Le pregunté a María. |
| llamar a alguien (por teléfono) | to call someone | Le llamé ayer. (also lo in non-leísta dialects) |
| regalar algo a alguien | to give someone a gift | Le regalé un libro. |
| robar algo a alguien | to steal something from someone | Le robaron el móvil. |
| quitar algo a alguien | to take something away from someone | Le quité las llaves. |
| poner algo a alguien | to put something on someone | Le puse una chaqueta al niño. |
In each of these, the indirect object names the person affected by the action, even when English uses from (steal from) or on (put on). The mapping is not always intuitive — robar takes a (to) where English uses from, because Spanish frames the victim as a dative recipient rather than a source.
The dative of interest
Spanish has a productive use of the indirect object pronoun to signal that a person has an emotional or personal stake in an event — even when they aren't strictly the recipient. This is called the dative of interest or dativo de interés.
Se me ha roto el móvil.
My phone broke (on me).
Se nos ha escapado el perro.
The dog ran away on us.
El niño no me come.
The child won't eat (and it's affecting me).
The me and nos in these sentences aren't strictly required by the verb — se ha roto el móvil is a complete sentence — but adding the dative tells the listener that you are personally affected. This is everyday speech in Spain; you'll hear it constantly. It gets its own page at dative of interest.
Body parts and possession
Spanish uses the indirect object pronoun where English uses a possessive adjective to talk about body parts, clothing, and personal belongings. Spanish prefers Me duele la cabeza over Mi cabeza duele; Le lavé las manos al niño over I washed the child's hands.
Me he cortado el dedo con la cebolla.
I cut my finger with the onion.
Le rompiste el corazón sin darte cuenta.
You broke her heart without realising.
Le lavo el pelo al niño dos veces por semana.
I wash the child's hair twice a week.
The logic: the body part or item is the direct object, the person who owns it is the indirect object, and Spanish doesn't need a possessive because the dative already tells you whose body, whose hair, whose heart.
Le and les are gender-neutral
The 3rd person le and les do not encode gender. The same le in Le di el libro can mean I gave him the book or I gave her the book — context decides. If you need to clarify, Spanish adds a prepositional phrase: Le di el libro a ella / a él.
Le voy a regalar algo especial este año.
I'm going to get him/her something special this year.
Les voy a contar la verdad, aunque no les guste.
I'm going to tell them the truth, even though they won't like it.
Common Mistakes
❌ Yo escribo a María una carta.
Incorrect by omission — natural Spanish doubles with the pronoun le.
✅ Le escribo una carta a María.
I'm writing María a letter.
❌ Yo gusto el café.
Incorrect — gustar takes an indirect object, not a subject, for the person experiencing.
✅ Me gusta el café.
I like coffee.
❌ Les digo la verdad, chicos.
In Spain, addressing a group of friends informally uses os, not les — les is reserved for the formal ustedes.
✅ Os digo la verdad, chicos.
I'm telling you all the truth, guys.
❌ Mi cabeza duele.
Awkward — Spanish prefers the indirect-object pattern for body parts.
✅ Me duele la cabeza.
My head hurts.
❌ Le di el libro a ellos.
Number mismatch — plural recipient needs les.
✅ Les di el libro a ellos.
I gave the book to them.
The number-agreement mistake — using le with a plural recipient — is common enough in casual Spanish that you'll occasionally hear it from native speakers, but it is still considered an error in writing and careful speech.
Key takeaways
- The six indirect object pronouns in Spain are me, te, le, nos, os, les.
- Le and les don't encode gender — same form for him, her, formal you.
- Spanish requires an indirect object in many places English doesn't: gustar-type verbs, body parts, dative of interest, communication verbs.
- Os is the everyday peninsular form for informal plural address — don't drop it.
- The number of the pronoun must match the number of the recipient: le for singular, les for plural.
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- Posición del complemento indirectoA2 — Indirect object pronouns follow exactly the same placement rules as direct objects: in front of conjugated verbs, attached to infinitives, gerunds, and affirmative commands — and when both appear, the indirect always comes first.
- Duplicación del complemento indirecto: 'le doy el libro a María'B1 — When you name the indirect object with 'a + person', Spanish almost always doubles it with the matching pronoun (le/les) in the same clause — and skipping the pronoun is one of the most distinctive transfer errors English speakers make.
- Pronombres de complemento directo: me, te, lo, la, nos, os, los, lasA1 — The direct object pronouns of peninsular Spanish, including the *vosotros* companion *os* and the RAE-accepted *leísmo de persona* for masculine human direct objects.
- Cuando 'le' se convierte en 'se' (lo, la, los, las)B1 — When both le/les (indirect) and lo/la/los/las (direct) meet before the same verb, le/les obligatorily becomes 'se' — and this single rule explains the most common cardinal error of intermediate Spanish.
- Verbos tipo gustar: a mí me gustaA1 — Gustar does not mean 'to like.' It means 'to be pleasing,' and the syntax follows from that: the thing liked is the subject, the person who likes it is the indirect object. Master this one pattern and you unlock a whole family of essential verbs.
- Dativo de interés: 'se me cayó', 'se le rompió'B1 — Spanish has a productive construction that uses a dative pronoun to mark the party affected by an event — often softening blame in accidents (se me cayó el vaso) or signalling emotional involvement.
- A mí me gusta: doble pronombre enfáticoA2 — Spanish routinely doubles indirect-object pronouns with an 'a + prepositional pronoun' phrase. Me gusta el café and A mí me gusta el café are both grammatical — but they mean slightly different things. Learn when the doubling is optional, when it's obligatory, and what it signals to a native speaker.