Breakdown of El espía tiene el micrófono. No me lo des.
no
no, not
tener
to have
dar
to give
me
to me / me (direct object)
lo
it / him (direct object)
el espía
the spy
el micrófono
the microphone
Questions & Answers about El espía tiene el micrófono. No me lo des.
Why do me and lo come before the verb in No me lo des?
Because this is a negative command. When you tell someone not to do something, the object pronouns must go immediately before the verb, right after no. If this were a positive command ("Give it to me"), they would be attached to the very end of the verb instead (dámelo).
Why is the order me lo instead of lo me?
When you use two object pronouns together, the indirect object (the person receiving the action, me) always comes before the direct object (the thing being acted upon, lo). A handy rule of thumb in Spanish is "people before things."
Why is the verb des instead of the normal present tense das?
To give a negative command to tú (informal "you"), Spanish uses a different verb form (called the subjunctive mood). For an -ar verb like dar (to give), the normal -as ending swaps to an -es ending, which is why "don't give" becomes no des.
What exactly does lo refer to here?
Lo translates to "it" and is taking the place of el micrófono (the microphone). Since micrófono is a masculine noun, we have to use the masculine pronoun lo to represent it.
The word espía ends in "-a". Why does the sentence say el espía instead of la espía?
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