Spanish pronouns

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JohnnyD_pgv
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Joined: Sat Jan 25, 2025 9:03 pm
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Spanish pronouns

Postby JohnnyD_pgv » Sat Jan 25, 2025 9:07 pm

I'm stumbling in Babbel Spanish. When to use La, Lo, Se, Los. Les etc. I went through the class on it, where there are descriptions and rules discussed, but you can't easily go back to them. Is it suggested to print those, or just take that class again? Thanks.
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iguanamon
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Re: Spanish pronouns

Postby iguanamon » Sun Jan 26, 2025 2:42 am

Welcome to the forum JohnnyD_pgv. Your question is about grammar. I don't usually answer grammar questions about second languages I speak because, though my Spanish level is high, I am a second-language speaker. I can't explain all the nuances of Spanish grammar. Besides that, it would take a while to write and I'm bound to miss something. A good course should explain their use to you in an understandable way. These are basic grammar points in Spanish. They have to be learned. They can be learned.

You haven't said if you are using another course or not, but I will assume your only course is Babbel. I am not familiar with how the Babbel app works. Generally, apps are not really a good way to learn a language. Apps are easily available. They give the illusion of learning but they don't go into as much detail as traditional learning materials do.

As a beginner, you should use a good course book with accompanying audio, have a good bilingual dictionary, and a good grammar reference. A very cheap and basic grammar like Dover's Essential Spanish Grammar will serve you quite well.

Courses, there are a blue million of them for English-speakers- Destinos- which has video, audio, a textbook, a workbook; Assimil is a classic resource; Pimsleur serves well for speaking and intuitive grammar; Teach Yourself Spanish; Hugo's Spanish in 3 months; etc. and so forth.

I'm not saying dump Babbel, but you definitely need more than just Babbel. I suggest you read my signature post below.
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Kraut
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Re: Spanish pronouns

Postby Kraut » Sun Jan 26, 2025 11:27 am

This happens to everybody. The most exhaustive treatment I have found is in Butt's grammar:
https://www.amazon.de/Reference-Grammar ... 113812401X
But this recommendation is for a scholar.
In your case I would dedicate Monday to the study of "lo", Tuesday for "le" etc with a few example sentences and their translations. Don't do the whole load contrastively together.
If you come across new example sentences add them to your list.

Here is a recent example:
Ya le hicieron el lio a mi mujer con su móvil que se le averió faltándole dos meses para que se le agotara la garantía y lo que hicieron fue culparla de haberlo averiado intencionalmente.
En el caso de hoy es por mi Smartwatch, hoy hace dos meses que se lo entregué averiado y ya cansado de esperar que me avisaran me pasé por el servicio post venta y lo tenían desde hace un mes para devolvérmelo sin ser capaces ni de avisar.

It took me a while, and I'm a language teacher.
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