Decir means to say or to tell, and just like in English, it’s used frequently with indirect objects pronouns in Spanish or los pronombres de complementos indirectos.
Indirect object pronouns is a tricky topic for Spanish learners. Here are the indirect object pronouns, sometimes called IOPs, and their respective meanings in English:
- Me (me)
- Te (you)
- *Le (him/her/you)
- Nos (us)
- *Les (them/y’all)
The difficulty is two-fold in Spanish; on the one hand, usually the IOPs are placed before the verb rather than after it like in English (except in a few particular cases). On the other hand, it’s confusing sometimes to know who the indirect object of the verb is. As a result, this topic often causes great stress for Spanish learners.
¡No se preocupen! Don’t worry!
At CGI, our dedicated teachers are always trying to think of ways to jump the hurdles to get you talking right away.
How can you use indirect object pronouns in a phrase with decir? Here are some examples:
- Tú me dijiste (a mí) → you told me
- Sara te dijo (a ti) → Sara told you
- Yo le dije (a ella) → I told her
- Yo le dije (a usted) → I told you (formal)
- Ellos nos dijeron (a nosotros) → They told us
- Nosotros les dijimos (a ellos) → We told them
In each of these examples, the phrase is indicating to whom something is told. Remember that with the verb decir, the speaker is often telling SOMETHING (algo) to SOMEONE (alguien). This is why it’s so necessary to use indirect objects and their IOPs with the verb decir.
Need to review conjugating irregular verbs like decir in the preterit in Spanish? Check out this blog here.
You can start making these word associations with the indirect object pronouns and decir in your brain right away:
Te dije o le dije (when you told something to someone).
Me dijiste or me dijo (when someone told you something)
By associating these words together, you’ll be using them in your Spanish conversations in no time at all.
You can also apply the same logic to other verbs, for example:
- Preguntar (to ask a question)
- Contestar (to answer)
- Contar (o-ue) (to tell)
- Gritar (to yell)
All of the above verbs also use indirect object pronouns frequently because they all require you to say SOMETHING to SOMEONE. As a result, native Spanish speakers will often use an IOP with these verbs, as well as with decir.
Watch the video to learn more about how to use the verb decir with indirect object pronouns.
Want to practice more? Download the practice worksheet and practice indirect object pronouns in Spanish with decir and other verbs that work with IOPs.
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