Learn Spanish (Latin America): El espejo está en el baño, estoy limpiándolo. - The mirror is in the bathroom, I am cleaning it.

In Spanish, direct object pronouns like lo (which means 'it' and refers to el espejo) can be attached directly to the end of a gerund. A gerund is the equivalent of an English '-ing' word, ending in -ando or -iendo. Here, limpiando plus lo becomes limpiándolo.

Why does limpiándolo have an accent mark when limpiando does not?

When you attach a pronoun to the end of a gerund, you add an extra syllable to the word. To keep the spoken stress on the exact same vowel as the original word (limpiando), you must add a written accent mark over that vowel. For -ando verbs, the accent always goes on the a.

Can I put the lo somewhere else in this sentence?

Yes! When you have a conjugated verb followed by a gerund (like estoy limpiando), you have two choices for where the pronoun goes. You can attach it to the end (estoy limpiándolo) or you can place it right before the conjugated verb (lo estoy limpiando). Both are perfectly natural and mean the same thing.

Why do we use está for the mirror instead of es?