Learn French: Il n'achète pas la voiture, il nous la rend. - He is not buying the car, he is giving it back to us.

When using double object pronouns before a verb, French follows a strict order. A 1st or 2nd person pronoun (like me, te, nous, vous) always comes before a 3rd person direct object pronoun (like le, la, les). Therefore, nous comes before la.

How do I tell which pronoun is the direct object and which is the indirect object in nous la?

The pronoun la directly replaces la voiture (the car), making it the direct object. The pronoun nous represents the people receiving the action (giving it back to us), making it the indirect object.

If the second half of the sentence were negative, where would ne and pas go?

The negative words ne and pas act like a sandwich around the entire pronoun-verb group. You would say il ne nous la rend pas. The pronouns nous and la must stay glued to the front of the verb rend.

Why does rend mean "giving back" here instead of just "giving"?