Breakdown of El orfanato necesita la donación y se la enviaremos mañana.
y
and
necesitar
to need
mañana
tomorrow
la
it / her (direct object)
enviar
to send
se
to him / to her / to them / to you (formal)
el orfanato
orphanage
la donación
donation
Questions & Answers about El orfanato necesita la donación y se la enviaremos mañana.
Why do we use se la instead of le la?
The pronoun se replaces le (to it / to the orphanage) because it comes right before the direct object pronoun la (it / the donation). Spanish does not allow le la, le lo, les la, or les lo. Whenever an indirect object pronoun (le or les) is followed by a direct object pronoun starting with L (lo, la, los, or las), the first pronoun always changes to se.
Who or what does the se refer to in this sentence?
It refers to el orfanato (the orphanage). The orphanage is the receiver of the action, which is called the indirect object. We are sending the donation to it. Normally, 'to it' would be le, but here it changes to se because it sits right next to la.
Could we attach se la to the end of the verb, like enviaremosela?
No, not in this sentence. Because enviaremos is a conjugated verb (future tense, meaning 'we will send'), the pronouns must go separately right before it. You can only attach pronouns to the end of a verb if it is an infinitive (like enviar), a gerund (like enviando), or a positive command.
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