Pronouns are the mortar between your sentences. In IB Spanish B you need them to flow: object pronouns in the right order and position, the tricky le→se switch, and the relative pronouns that let you build longer, more sophisticated sentences. In IB Diploma Spanish B, this grammar powers your work across the five prescribed themes — Identities, Experiences, Human ingenuity, Social organization and Sharing the planet — especially when you discuss Identities and relationships.
Work through each screen and answer the questions — some ask you to recognise the pronoun, some to produce the form. Collect ⭐ and press Start.
A direct object pronoun replaces the thing acted on ("it/him/her/them"); an indirect object pronoun replaces the recipient ("to/for whom"). They differ only in the third person:
| me |
| te |
| lo / la |
| nos |
| os |
| los / las |
| me |
| te |
| le |
| nos |
| os |
| les |
| 1st & 2nd: |
| identical |
| 3rd person: |
| lo/la/los/las |
| vs |
| le/les |
The tell: Lo veo = "I see him/it" (direct); Le doy el libro = "I give the book to him" (indirect — he receives the book).
Spanish avoids two l-pronouns in a row. When le or les is immediately followed by lo / la / los / las, the indirect pronoun changes to se:
| would be | becomes |
|---|---|
| le lo (✗) | se lo |
| le la (✗) | se la |
| les los (✗) | se los |
| les las (✗) | se las |
Example: Le doy el libro → Se lo doy ("I give it to him"). Never le lo doy.
When two object pronouns appear together, the order is fixed: indirect first, direct second. A handy mnemonic is "ID" (Indirect, Direct) or "people before things":
Reflexive counts too: a reflexive pronoun also comes before the direct object — Se lo pone ("He puts it on").
Tap a relative pronoun on the left, then its English meaning on the right.
Object pronouns sit before the conjugated verb. But they attach to the end of an infinitive, a gerund, or an affirmative command (adding an accent to keep the stress):
The accent is compulsory: once two pronouns attach (dármelo, dándomelo, dámelo), a written accent marks the original stressed syllable.
Relative pronouns link a clause back to a noun. Getting these right is a fast route to IB-level sentence complexity:
| pronoun | use |
|---|---|
| que | that / which / who (most common) |
| quien | who (after a preposition) |
| el que / el cual | which (formal, after prep.) |
| cuyo | whose (agrees with its noun) |
| lo que | what / that which |
| donde | where |
Watch cuyo: it agrees with the thing possessed, not the owner — el hombre cuya casa ("the man whose house"), cuyos hijos ("whose children").
Two more essentials. Lo que means "what / that which" (a neuter idea, not a specific noun). And Spanish inserts a personal a before a direct object that is a specific person:
Contrast: use lo que (not que alone) when "what" refers to a whole idea rather than a named noun.
Sort each third-person pronoun by whether it is a direct object or an indirect object.
Direct object: me, te, lo, la, nos, os, los, las. Indirect object: me, te, le, nos, os, les.
le→se rule: before lo/la/los/las, le/les becomes se (se lo di, never le lo di).
Order & position: indirect before direct (te lo doy); before a conjugated verb, but attached to an infinitive / gerund / affirmative command (dármelo, dándomelo, dámelo).
Relative pronouns: que (that/which/who), quien (who), el que / el cual (which), cuyo (whose, agrees), lo que (what), donde (where).
Personal 'a': before a specific person object — Veo a María.
That completes the first three clusters of the backbone. Press Finish.
You've built pronouns in depth for IB Diploma Spanish B SL. 🎉
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Next in the backbone: the present subjunctive — its formation, irregulars, and the triggers that call for it.