Learn Spanish (Latin America): La salsa necesita pimienta. Te la estoy pasando ahora. - The sauce needs pepper. I am passing it to you now.

In Spanish, when you have two object pronouns together, the indirect object (the person receiving the action, te) always comes before the direct object (the thing being acted upon, la). A good way to remember this is that people usually come before things!

What exactly does la refer to here?

Here, la means "it" and refers back to pimienta (pepper) from the first sentence. Since pimienta is a feminine noun, we must use the feminine direct object pronoun la.

Why are the pronouns te la placed before estoy?

Object pronouns are usually placed right before the conjugated verb. In this sentence, the conjugated verb is estoy (I am). Therefore, te la goes right in front of it, creating the phrase Te la estoy pasando.

Could I attach te la to the end of the verb instead?

Yes! Because this sentence uses a gerund (an -ando or -iendo verb like pasando), you have the option to attach both pronouns directly to the end of it. If you do, they stay in the exact same order (indirect then direct), but you must add a written accent mark to keep the original stress: Estoy pasándotela ahora.