Breakdown of Cuando el sujeto está inconsciente, el ruido no lo hace despertarse.
no
no, not
estar
to be (location/state)
hacer
to do / to make
el ruido
the noise
despertarse
to wake up
lo
it / him (direct object)
cuando
when (statement)
el sujeto
the subject
inconsciente
unconscious
Questions & Answers about Cuando el sujeto está inconsciente, el ruido no lo hace despertarse.
Why are there two pronouns (lo and se) referring to the same person?
This happens because of the causative structure (hacer + infinitive) combined with a pronominal verb. The lo is the direct object of hacer, showing who the noise is acting upon ("makes him"). Meanwhile, despertarse (to wake up) keeps its pronoun se to show that he is waking up, rather than waking someone else. Therefore, lo goes before the conjugated verb, and se remains attached to the infinitive.
Why do we use the direct object pronoun lo instead of the indirect object le with this causative structure?
When using hacer or dejar + infinitive, the person being made to do the action is treated as a direct object (lo or la) if the infinitive verb does not have a direct object of its own. Since waking up doesn't take an external object here, we use lo. If the second verb did take a direct object (for example, making him read a book), the person would become an indirect object (le).
Why use está instead of es with inconsciente?
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