Direct Object Pronouns in Spanish: Process

Activity Overview

After learning the definition of a direct object, how to identify it in a sentence, and the Spanish direct object pronoun forms, students can begin to practice taught concepts.

Have students write various, original, sample questions and answers to demonstrate their understanding of direct object nouns and pronouns. The questions should include direct object nouns, and the responses should use direct object pronouns.

The process for using direct object pronouns has multiple steps, and the temptation for a new student is to rush through it, but practicing slowly and methodically leads to fewer errors in the future. In following this sample storyboard, students must slow down and show each of their steps.

The first row ensures that the student has correctly chosen a question that includes a direct object (as opposed to simply targeting sentences with the word “it” somewhere). If the test question doesn’t work, the student must think of a different example. In the second row, the student demonstrates their process for choosing the correct pronoun, replacing the direct object noun, and the English translation. In the final row, the student shows proper placement of the direct object pronoun and puts their mini conversation together. Have students provide as many different examples as needed for mastery.

Test question for identifying the direct object: “Subject verb what/whom?”

If there is an answer to the above question, it is the direct object.