*Yo escribo una carta a Antonio y a Melanie.
| Yo= subject |
| Escribo= active verb |
| una carta= direct object |
| a Antonio y a Melanie= Indirect Objects |
In English, we would replace "Antonio and Melanie" with "them". The Spanish equivalent is les.
Now our sentence reads: *Yo escribo una carta les.
We need to move the Indirect Object pronoun to the correct position:
| Yo les escribo una carta. |
Note: the Indirect Object pronoun will
separate a subject (Yo, Tú, Él, Ella, Nosotros, etc.)
and the active/conjugated verb.
You cannot say *Les
yo escribo una carta. Pronouns cannot be separated by
a negative either:
| Yo no les escribo una carta. |
Pronouns are placed directly before
the conjugated verb.
Remember, you still must use the indirect object pronoun even when you identify the indirect object itself. Here are a few more examples:
| I tell them the truth | Yo les digo la verdad |
| I tell the truth to Jack & Jill | Yo les digo la verdad a Jack y a Jill |
| I give the wine to Madonna | Le doy el vino a Madonna |
| I give the wine to her (or him, or you) | Le doy el vino |
| Mel brings the towel to you | Mel te trae la toalla |
| Keanu brings the towel to me | Keanu me trae la toalla |
| They tell him (or her, or you) where the skis are | Le dicen dónde están los esquís |
| They tell Cher where the skis are | Le dicen dónde están los esquís a Cher |
| You teach us Spanish | Nos enseña Español |
| You teach Spanish to Gumby, Pokey and me | Nos enseña español a Gumby, a Pokey y a mí. |
| The thief steals the car from us | El ladrón nos roba el carro |
| The thief steals the car from Uma and me | El ladrón nos roba el carro a Uma y a mí |