Learn Spanish (Spain): Corto el queso y se lo doy. - I cut the cheese and I give it to them.

Corto el queso y se lo doy.

I cut the cheese and I give it to them.

Breakdown of Corto el queso y se lo doy.

Questions & Answers about Corto el queso y se lo doy.

Why is it se lo doy and not les lo doy?

This is the double object pronoun rule in action! We want to say "give it (lo) to them (les)". But in Spanish, you cannot put le or les directly before lo, la, los, or las because it sounds too much like a tongue twister. Instead, les changes to se. So, les lo doy becomes se lo doy.

Doesn't se usually mean "himself" or "herself"? How do we know it means "to them" here?

You are right that se is often used for reflexive verbs (like when someone washes themselves). But in this sentence, it is acting as a disguised les (to them) simply because it is parked right next to lo. The context of the conversation is what tells us if this se means "to him", "to her", or "to them".

Why do se and lo come before the verb doy?

In Spanish, object pronouns like se and lo must go before a conjugated verb. Since doy (I give) is a conjugated verb, both pronouns slide in right before it. When you have two pronouns together like this, the indirect object (the person receiving, se) always comes before the direct object (the thing being given, lo).

If we were giving an apple (la manzana) instead of cheese (el queso), how would the sentence change?