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ADVENTURES
IN
LANGUAGE
SPANISH TABLE
Direct/Indirect Object Pronouns
When do you put accent marks on infinitives, gerunds, and imperatives
when they are combined with object pronouns?
As discussed in our post, indirect and direct object pronouns
get attached to ininitives, imperatives, and gerunds:
Positive
imperative
Infinitive Gerund
Verb form compra comprar comprando
Direct object cómpralo comprarlo comprándolo
Indirect object cómprale comprarle comprándole
Indirect object
+
Direct object
cómpraselo
cómpramelo
comprárselo
comprármelo
comprándoselo
comprándomelo
As pointed out in our blog post, some verb forms have an accent mark when
combined with these pronouns (compra, cómpralo, comprárselo). Regardless of the
“extra syllables” (object pronouns) added to the verb, the stressed syllable is the same
as in the original verb form. For example, take a look at compra below. In compra, the
stressed syllable is ‘com,’ the second syllable starting from the end of the word
(com - pra). When we add the pronoun, the stressed syllable is the same ‘com’, but
this time it is the third syllable starting from the end. According to the Spanish accent
rules, all the words whose stressed syllable is the third syllable starting from the end,
need to have an accent mark.
(1) Compra: stressed syllable com
(second syllable starting from the end)
(2) Cómpralo: stressed syllable com
(now it is the third syllable starting from the end,
mangolanguages.com
and we must write the accent mark).
