Learn Spanish (Latin America): Asistentes, los gatos necesitan la medicina. Dénsela aquí. - Assistants, the cats need the medicine. Give it to them here.

Asistentes, los gatos necesitan la medicina. Dénsela aquí.

Assistants, the cats need the medicine. Give it to them here.

Breakdown of Asistentes, los gatos necesitan la medicina. Dénsela aquí.

the (masculine plural)

aquí

here

Questions & Answers about Asistentes, los gatos necesitan la medicina. Dénsela aquí.

How does the word Dénsela break down?

It is made of three parts: den (the command for give addressed to a group), se (to them, referring to the cats), and la (it, referring to the medicine). When you give a positive command in Spanish, you must attach the pronoun or pronouns directly to the end of the verb.

Why do we use se here instead of les for to them?

Normally, to them is les. However, Spanish has a rule that you cannot put le or les directly before lo, la, los, or las. Because we are putting both pronouns together here, les changes to se to avoid the awkward sound of lesla.

Why does Dénsela have a written accent mark?

The original verb command is just den, which naturally carries the voice stress on its only vowel. When we attach two extra syllables (se and la) to the end, the spoken stress of the new longer word would normally shift. We add the written accent to keep the spoken stress exactly on the same vowel as the original word den.

Why is the command den instead of dan?