SPANISH DIRECT OBJECT PRONOUNS

DIRECT OBJECT PRONOUNS IN SPANISH

LISTEN

ME (me)
TE (you - informal)
LO/LA (him, her, it, you - formal)
NOS (us)
OS (you all - informal)
LOS/LAS (them, you all - formal)

First of all we must know that in a sentence a direct object noun is the person, event or thing that receives the action of the verb:
Gilberto lee el libro Gilberto reads the book
El libro (the book) receives the action of the verb lee (reads)

In Spanish, direct object pronouns replace direct object nouns to avoid unnecessarily repeating them:
Gilberto lo lee Gilberto read it

ANOTHER EXAMPLE:

Roberto comió el arroz español
Roberto lo comió

Roberto ate Spanish rice
Roberto ate it

In English, the use of direct object pronouns is also frequent. In the sentence above, we replace the direct object Spanish rice with the pronoun it.

DIRECT OBJECT PRONOUN PLACEMENT
The main difference in Spanish and English is the pronoun placement. In English, the pronoun is placed where the direct object noun was. In Spanish, the pronoun is placed:
Before the conjugated verb
Julia la alquila     Julia rents it
Gabriel los lee     Gabriel reads them

After infinitive verbs and -ndo forms:
Julia va a alquilarla     Julia is going to rent it
Gabriel está leyéndolos*     Gabriel is reading them

*When you attach the pronoun at the end of the -ndo form, an accent mark is needed. The accent goes on the vowel preceding -ndo.

Direct object pronouns agree in gender and number with the nouns they replace:
LO → replaces masculine-singular nouns
LOS  → replaces masculine-plural nouns
LA → replaces feminine-singular nouns
LAS → replaces feminine-plural nouns

Examples:
Mercedes comió un taco → Mercedes lo comió
Mercedes comió unos tacos → Mercedes los comió
Eduardo compró una camisa blanca → Eduardo la compró
Eduardo compró unas camisas blancas → Eduardo las compró

In negative sentences, direct object pronouns are placed after the negative word:
Mercedes no lo comió
Eduardo no la compró