Learn Hardcore Spanish (Latin America): Enfría el té antes de dárselo a la niña, por favor. - Cool the tea before giving it to the girl, please.

Enfría is the tú (informal singular) command form of enfriar (to cool). So the sentence is addressing “you” (informal), as in “(You) cool the tea…”.

Spanish usually drops subject pronouns (yo, tú, él, etc.) when the verb ending already makes the subject clear.
The -a ending in enfría (in an affirmative command) tells us it’s tú, so tú is normally not said:

(Tú) enfría el té – You (informal) cool the tea.

If you wanted to be formal (usted), you’d say Enfríe el té instead.

Why is it el té and not just té?

In Spanish, you almost always use an article (like el, la) with a noun, even when English might not.

Here, el té means “the tea,” and it’s natural because we’re talking about a specific tea (the tea that is going to be given to the girl).

Enfría el té – Cool the tea (this particular tea).

Using just té without an article (Enfría té) sounds wrong or at best extremely unnatural in this context.

Also, té is masculine in Spanish, so it takes el: el té.

What does antes de dárselo literally mean, and why is it antes de + infinitive?

Literally, antes de dárselo is “before giving it to her/him/them/you”.

antes de = before
dar = to give
se = to her/him/them/you (formal)
lo = it (masculine, here = the tea)

Spanish uses antes de + infinitive when the subject is the same in both actions:

You cool the tea (tú enfrías)
You give it to the girl (tú se lo das)

Since the same tú does both actions, we use:

Enfría el té antes de dárselo… – Cool the tea before giving it to her…

If we introduce a different subject, we normally use antes de que + subjunctive, e.g.:

Enfría el té antes de que la niña lo beba.
Cool the tea before the girl drinks it.

How is dárselo built, and what does each part refer to?

dárselo = dar + se + lo

dar – to give
se – indirect object pronoun: “to her/him/them/you (formal)”
lo – direct object pronoun: “it” (masculine singular, here = el té)

So in this sentence:

lo = el té (the tea)
se = a la niña (to the girl)

The full idea is: dar el té a la niña → dárselo = “to give it to her”.

Why is it se lo and not le lo?

Spanish does not allow le lo / les lo together.
When the indirect object pronouns le or les (to him/her/them) appear before a direct object pronoun starting with l- (lo, la, los, las), le/les change to se.

So:

dar el té a la niña → dar + le + lo theoretically
But le lo is not allowed → becomes se lo

That’s why we say:

dárselo (to give it to her), not darlelo.
Se lo di a la niña. – I gave it to the girl.
(not ✗ Le lo di a la niña)

Why are the pronouns attached at the end (dárselo) instead of written separately?

With infinitives, gerunds, and affirmative commands, object pronouns are typically attached to the end of the verb:

Infinitive: dar + se + lo → dárselo
Gerund: dando + se + lo → dándoselo
Affirmative command: dá + se + lo → dáselo

In your sentence, we have antes de + infinitive, so the pronouns must attach to the infinitive:

antes de dárselo (correct)
✗ antes de se lo dar (ungrammatical)

Compare with a conjugated verb, where pronouns usually go before:

Se lo voy a dar.
Voy a dárselo.

Both are correct; with infinitives in prepositional phrases like antes de, they attach at the end.

Why does dárselo have an accent on dár?

The base verb dar has one syllable and is normally stressed on dar.

When we attach two pronouns (se + lo), the word becomes darselo, which has three syllables: dar-se-lo.
Without an accent, the natural stress would shift incorrectly (to se), so Spanish uses an accent to keep the stress on the original syllable:

dar → dárselo (stress stays on dár)

Rules: when adding pronouns makes the word longer and moves the stress away from where it belongs, you add an accent to preserve the original stress.

If se already means “to the girl,” why do we also say a la niña?

Spanish often repeats the indirect object using both:

an indirect object pronoun (se, in this case), and
a prepositional phrase (a la niña).

This is very common and usually sounds more natural:

Dáselo a la niña. – Give it to the girl.
Se lo di a la niña. – I gave it to the girl.

The pronoun (se) is grammatically required when you’re using clitic pronouns, and a la niña:

clarifies who exactly,
can add emphasis,
and avoids ambiguity (there could be multiple possible “hers”).

So both pieces together are perfectly normal: dárselo a la niña.

Can I say antes de darlo a la niña or antes de darle el té a la niña instead of antes de dárselo a la niña?

Yes, both alternatives are grammatically correct, but they change the pronoun structure slightly:

antes de darlo a la niña
- darlo = dar + lo (give it)
- a la niña = to the girl
  Here you don’t use an indirect object pronoun; you just express the indirect object with a la niña.
antes de darle el té a la niña
- darle = dar + le (give to her)
- el té = the tea (expressed directly, not as a pronoun)

Your original:

antes de dárselo a la niña
- se = to her
- lo = it (the tea)

All are possible; dárselo is just a compact way of saying “give it to her” using both object pronouns.

Could I change lo in dárselo to la, los, or las? How does that work?

Yes. The direct object pronoun (lo, la, los, las) must agree with the gender and number of the noun it replaces:

dárselo – give it (masculine singular) to her
- e.g. el té, el libro → lo
dársela – give it (feminine singular) to her
- e.g. la taza, la carta → la
dárselos – give them (masculine plural) to her
- e.g. los libros, los juguetes
dárselas – give them (feminine plural) to her
- e.g. las tazas, las cartas

The se stays the same (to her/him/them/you formal); the lo/la/los/las changes to match the direct object noun.

Where can por favor go in this sentence? Is it always at the end?

Por favor is flexible in position. All of these are natural:

Por favor, enfría el té antes de dárselo a la niña.
Enfría el té, por favor, antes de dárselo a la niña.
Enfría el té antes de dárselo a la niña, por favor.

Putting por favor at the beginning or end is most common; in the middle (with commas) is also possible, especially in spoken Spanish for emphasis or rhythm.

How would the sentence change for a formal usted command, or if I’m talking to more than one person?

Starting from:

(tú) Enfría el té antes de dárselo a la niña, por favor.

Formal singular (usted):

Enfríe el té antes de dárselo a la niña, por favor.
- enfríe = usted command form

Informal plural (vosotros) – mostly Spain:

Enfriad el té antes de dárselo a la niña, por favor.

Plural (ustedes) – used for “you all” in Latin America:

Enfríen el té antes de dárselo a la niña, por favor.

Notice that dárselo a la niña stays the same; only the command form of enfriar changes.