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Necesito el cargador, pero nunca me lo prestas.

Necesito el cargador, pero nunca me lo prestas.
I need the charger, but you never lend it to me.
From Lesson 89:Double object pronouns (me lo, te la)·Spanish (Spain)

Questions & Answers about Necesito el cargador, pero nunca me lo prestas.

Why is it me lo prestas instead of lo me prestas?
In Spanish, when you have two object pronouns together, the indirect object (the person receiving the action, here me for "to me") always comes before the direct object (the thing being acted upon, here lo for "it"). A good rule of thumb to remember this order is "people before things".
How do we know to use lo for "it" in this sentence?
The pronoun lo replaces el cargador (the charger). Because cargador is a masculine, singular noun, we must use the masculine singular pronoun lo. If you were talking about a feminine noun like a tablet (la tableta), you would say me la prestas.
Could I attach me lo to the end of the verb, like prestasmelo?
No, not with a regular conjugated verb like this one. Because prestas is conjugated to match the subject "you", the pronouns me and lo must go before it as separate words. You only attach pronouns to the end of un-conjugated verbs (infinitives), "-ing" forms (gerunds), or affirmative commands.
How does nunca (never) affect the sentence structure here?
When a negative word like nunca goes before the verb, it is placed right before the object pronouns. If you prefer to put nunca at the end of the sentence, Spanish requires you to make it a double negative by adding no before the pronouns: pero no me lo prestas nunca. Both ways mean exactly the same thing!

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