Emphasizing completeness
In Spanish, you will often see indirect object pronouns (me, te, le, nos, les) added to sentences where they aren't strictly necessary. When the pronoun matches the subject of the sentence, it emphasizes the completeness of the action—often translating to doing something "up" or "down" in English.
This is extremely common with verbs of consumption to emphasize eating an entire portion, such as with devorar (to devour) or engullir (to gobble down).
| It is two o'clock and I already devoured the whole hamburger! | ¡Son las dos y ya me devoré la hamburguesa entera! |
| You gobbled down the sandwich very fast! | ¡Te engulliste el sándwich muy rápido! |
| We ate up the whole sandwich and we had terrible indigestion. | Nos comimos el sándwich entero y tuvimos una indigestión terrible. |
Being affected by an action
You can also use these pronouns to show who is emotionally or physically affected by an action, known as the dative of interest.
If someone else performs the action, the pronoun indicates who suffered or benefited from it. It often replaces possessive adjectives (like "my" or "his"). For example, instead of saying someone ate "my" hamburger, Spanish speakers often say they ate the hamburger "on me".
| The glutton devoured my whole hamburger! | ¡El glotón me devoró la hamburguesa entera! |
When the subject performs the action for their own benefit, the pronoun shows that they did it for themselves.
| I made the whole sandwich for myself because I had a voracious hunger. | Me hice el sándwich entero porque tuve un hambre voraz. |
This structure is also the standard way to talk about body parts experiencing pain or sensations. You use the indirect object pronoun to show who the body part belongs to, rather than using a possessive word like "mi".
| My belly hurts because I gobbled down the hamburger. | Me duele la panza porque me engullí la hamburguesa. |