Why are indirect object pronouns sometimes le and sometimes se?

Question

Replace the objects in this sentence with direct and indirect object pronouns:

Traje la pelota a ella.

Answer 1

Le(s) becomes se when it is used with the direct object pronouns la(s) or lo(s). As a refresher, the direct object is what's getting acted upon (or, put simply, verbed) by the verb. Direct object pronouns are used to refer to the direct object. The indirect object is the recipient of the direct object and an indirect object pronoun simply refers to the indirect object. So in a sentence like "I gave him the book", "the book" is the direct object because it is the thing being acted upon and "him" is the indirect object because it is the recipient of the direct object. In Spanish, this sentence would be "se lo di el libro", with "se" being the indirect object pronoun and "lo" referring to the direct object, "el libro."

I've always been curious about the exact reason why le turns into se in the context described above. But even after having taken a course in the history of Spanish grammar, I still don't have a definitive reason. Generally everyone says that it's because le(s), la(s), and lo(s) all sound alike. There are few tricky aspects of Spanish grammar that just seem to be tricky for no reason at all. As with any tricky part of the language, it will get easier with time and practice. Hope this helped!

Answer 2

As far as I know, there's no real good reason other than it "sounds bad" which I know is kind of frustrating! I had one of my high school Spanish teachers say "never le lo, always se lo" which is kind of nonsense but has stuck with me for over 15 years and come in handy working and living abroad! Sometimes language learning is just shrugging, accepting that you need to memorize a weird quirk of a language, and moving on. This is one of those times - good luck!

Answer 3

Indirect pronouns only turn from "le" to "se" to avoid the dissonant "le la" or "le lo" outcome. So if you were a computer, conjugating your verbs, one of the last steps of your program would be to search for any "le la" and replace with "se la" (and a few others that also sound that way), because it sounds better.

Answer 4