The little word English speakers always drop in Spanish: lo, la, le
In English you can drop the object when it is obvious: "I can see clearly." In Spanish you cannot. The pronoun — lo, la, le — has to be there, either in front of the verb (lo veo) or stuck onto the end of an infinitive (puedo verlo). It never just vanishes.
This is one of the most common things I correct in intermediate English speakers, and it is worth fixing because it is the kind of mistake that makes a sentence sound structurally foreign rather than merely accented.
The sentence that started this
A student wrote to me:
❌ Nacho, puedo ver muy claro.
He meant "I can see it clearly". What he actually wrote is "I can see very clearly" — a statement about his eyesight. My honest first reaction was: see what?
In English, "it" evaporates the moment context makes it redundant. Spanish does not allow that. The object is still there in the meaning, so it has to be there in the sentence:
✅ Lo veo muy claro. ✅ Puedo verlo muy claro.
Both are correct. They differ only in where the pronoun sits, which is the next thing to understand.
Two positions, both correct
The pronoun goes in one of two places:
1. Before a conjugated verb — as a separate word:
Lo veo. — I see it. La compré ayer. — I bought it yesterday. No lo entiendo. — I don't understand it.
2. Attached to the end of an infinitive or gerund — as part of the word:
Puedo hacerlo. — I can do it. Voy a comprarla. — I'm going to buy it. Está haciéndolo. — He's doing it.
When there is a conjugated verb plus an infinitive, both positions work and mean exactly the same thing:
Lo puedo hacer. = Puedo hacerlo. La voy a comprar. = Voy a comprarla.
Spaniards use both constantly. Pick whichever comes out first — there is no register difference worth worrying about.
Which one: lo, la, los, las
Direct object pronouns agree with the gender and number of the thing they replace.
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| Masculine | lo | los |
| Feminine | la | las |
¿El libro? Lo compré ayer. — The book? I bought it yesterday. ¿La camisa? La compré ayer. — The shirt? I bought it yesterday. ¿Las llaves? No las encuentro. — The keys? I can't find them.
Note that this means you cannot use these pronouns correctly unless you know the noun's gender — which is why learning nouns with their article pays off twice.
Lo also does a second job: it stands in for a whole idea rather than a specific noun.
No lo sé. — I don't know (it — the whole situation). ¿Sabes que viene mañana? — Sí, lo sé. — Do you know he's coming tomorrow? — Yes, I know.
This is the lo that English speakers most often drop, because in English "I don't know" is complete on its own. "No sé" alone is possible in Spanish but sounds abrupt; "no lo sé" is what people actually say.
Le: the other one
Le and les are indirect objects — the person something is done to or for, rather than the thing being acted on.
Le di el libro. — I gave the book to him/her. Les dije la verdad. — I told them the truth.
The usual test: lo/la answers what?, le answers to whom?
¿Qué diste? El libro. → lo ¿A quién? A María. → le
And when both appear together, le becomes se, purely because le lo is unpronounceable:
Se lo di. — I gave it to him.
Not "le lo di". This one is a pure phonetic rule with no logic behind it — memorise the shape.
One thing to know about Spain
In Madrid and much of central Spain you will hear le used for masculine people where the textbook says lo: "le vi ayer" instead of "lo vi ayer". This is called leísmo, it is accepted for masculine people, and it is extremely common.
You do not have to adopt it. But if you learned lo and then hear le everywhere, you are not going mad — that is a regional habit, not a mistake. In Andalusia you will hear lo more.
Five to drill
These five are the ones that come up most and where English speakers most reliably drop the pronoun. Say each pair out loud:
| English | Spanish |
|---|---|
| I can see it | Lo veo / Puedo verlo |
| I can hear it | Lo oigo |
| I can feel it | Lo siento |
| I can explain it | Puedo explicarlo |
| I can do it | Puedo hacerlo |
Notice the third one. Lo siento is also how Spanish says "I'm sorry" — literally "I feel it". Once you see the pronoun structure, that phrase stops being an arbitrary chunk you memorised and starts making sense.
Why this one is worth the effort
Most grammar mistakes make you sound like a learner. This one makes the sentence sound incomplete — like a gear that did not engage. A Spaniard hearing "puedo ver muy claro" does not think "ah, a small error"; they genuinely wait for the rest of the sentence.
The fix is not complicated. It is a habit: whenever the English version has an "it" that you were about to leave out, put it back. In front of the verb or glued to the infinitive, but put it back.
If you want the other two things I correct most, they are noun gender and accent marks. And for the difference that shapes everything else, ser vs estar.
Want to practise this with someone who corrects you? Spanish Nacho is twelve lessons through Seville — ordering at the bar, haggling in the Triana market, giving directions to the Alcázar — with local characters who answer back and a real teacher reviewing how you are doing. Fourteen days free, no card required. Start free →
Want to practise this with someone who corrects you?
Spanish Nacho is twelve lessons through Seville — ordering at the bar, haggling in the Triana market, giving directions — with characters who answer back and a real teacher reviewing how you are doing. Fourteen days free, no card required.
Start free