What is a direct object?

A direct object is a noun (cats) or a noun clause (those nasty cats that live at my sister's house) that receive the direct impact of a verb. Take a look at these examples in Spanish and English. The direct objects are italicized in each example.

Compré un sofá para mi casa.	I bought a sofa for my house.
Comí una pizza con anchoas.	I ate an anchovy pizza.
Mis papás me quieren mucho.	My parents love me a lot.

How can I find a direct object in a sentence?

The easiest way to find a direct object in a sentence is to use the verb to ask a what? or who? question. The answer to that question is your direct object. (Some speakers of English-perhaps your high school English teacher-still use whom instead of who for direct objects in English. Whom is the correct, albeit moribund form.) For each of the Spanish sentences on the left, you'll find a corresponding English what? or who? question on the right.

Compré un refrigerador nuevo.	I bought what? (a new fridge)
Conozco a Madonna.	I know who? (Madonna)
Necesito lavar la blusa.	I need to wash what? (a blouse)

Okay, so what's a direct object pronoun?

Spanish, just like English, uses shorter words to substitute for direct objects in order to make sentences flow more smoothly and to avoid repetition. These shorter words are called direct object pronouns.

me	me
te	you (informal and singular)
lo / la	him or it (masculine and singular) / her or it (feminine and singular)
nos	us
os	you (informal and plural)
los / las	them (masculine and plural) / them (feminine and plural)

Where do direct object pronouns go in Spanish sentences?

Direct object pronouns, like all other pronouns in Spanish, can live in two very specific places.

In front of a simple conjugated verb is the more common place:

Yo escucho la radio por la mañana	Yo la escucho por la mañana.
Ayer Ana escuchó la radio.	Ayer Ana la escuchó.

For verbs that are made up of a conjugated verb plus an infinitive or a progressive tense (a conjugated verb plus an -ing form), the pronouns may go before the conjugated verb, or attached to the end of the infinitive or the present participle (the -ing form), as you can see in the examples below.

Prefiero usar el iPod.	Prefiero usarlo.	Lo prefiero usar.
Mamá está lavando la ropa.	Mamá está lavándola.	Mamá la está lavando.

What else do I need to know?

An important side note is the use of personal a. The preposition a, which cannot be translated into English in these sentences, has the job of marking the direct object of the sentence.

Llamé a mi hermana.	I called my sister.
Conozco al presidente.	I know the president.

Look for the personal a in the sentences below. The person right after it is the direct object of the sentence; that person cannot be the subject. Spanish word order is flexible. That means that the first person in the sentence is not necessarily the subject. Despite the changes in word order, all of the following sentences mean the same thing-Juana is the subject of all four sentences, and Juana loves Beto. Does Beto love her back? We can't tell from these sentences, even if we put Beto's name at the beginning. With personal a in front of his name, he can't be the subject of the sentence.

Juana lo quiere a Beto.

Lo quiere a Beto Juana.

A Beto lo quiere Juana.

Juana a Beto lo quiere.

Strange, right? It's strange for speakers of English, because we use word order to figure out our sentences. Spanish word order is more flexible, so we need to adapt and look for that personal a.

Anything else?

When you learn command forms, you will learn that direct object pronouns have special rules that are related to whether the command is negative or affirmative.