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Emphasis Direct/Indirect in the Lessons

Rob-B23

Rob-B23

Hola, This may be putting too fine a point on it, but I think the Direct/Indirect lessons could be made slightly clearer. Here are three important lines from the lessons: Lesson 4.8 In Spanish, the construction of direct object pronouns is a bit different from English. The direct object comes before the verb, not afterwards. Let’s look at some direct object pronouns now. Lesson 4.9 Unlike in English, the indirect object pronouns go directly before the verb. If the sentence is negative (has a "no" in it), the indirect object pronoun still goes directly before the verb. Lesson 4.10 In Spanish, on the other hand, the indirect object pronoun will ALWAYS come before the direct object pronoun. The emphasis on the underlined words do not show up in this Forum box. In Lesson 4.9 regarding indirect object pronouns, the words "directly before" are underlined indicating more importance and strict emphasis on their placement vs. the earlier Lesson 4.8 which says that a direct object pronoun simply "comes before" the verb. "Directly before" is understood as immediately in front of and being underlined means "pay attention to this". Then in lesson 4.10 we see that the indirect object pronoun does not come "directly" before the verb if there is also a direct object pronoun (that's not attached to the end of a verb). If both are present as separate words, it goes: Indirect - Direct - Verb. In this case the direct pronoun is "directly before" not the indirect pronoun. I feel like there would be less head shaking among students if Lesson 4.9 was not so emphatic about "directly" when compared to Lesson 4.8. They all stand up as separate lessons but, when you take them in sequence and know what you just read in the last one, it is a bit confusing. As I say, maybe too fine a point but sometimes these little nuances can help understanding come easier. Rob Ball
Dan-H24

Dan-H24

Rob: I think your comments are good, and they echo my own sentiments about how the information is sometimes presented. I am about halfway through the second course right now, and I work on a current lesson every morning. But several months ago I started reviewing a lesson from the first course each afternoon. I am amazed at how much more sense some of the information makes the second time through with what I know now. I have often wondered why they didn't explain some things in more detail. The example I always think of are the words está, ésta, and esta. At some point I began noticing the different accent placement and wondered what was up. I finally undertook some independent research to learn the answer. Maybe they are just concerned that throwing so much information at a new learner so soon would be overwhelming. But, so too can incomplete information be overwhelming. I struggled mightily with those lessons on direct and indirect object pronouns. In fact, I struggled with them second time through. And to top it all off, when I worked on them with my tutor, she suggested I not worry so much about them since in daily speech you don't that often encounter a sentence using both direct and indirect object pronouns. Since object pronouns have been a challenge for me, I tend to look for them when I am reading, and when I find one, I stop and think about whether it is a direct or indirect object pronoun. And regarding placement, I use a mirror metaphor: a typical sentence goes verb, DO, IO...the mirror is IOP, DOP, verb.
Robert-C7

Robert-C7

Those three lessons (4.8, 4.9 and 4.10) cover topics that I have struggled with over the years. It helps to read through these lessons multiple times. I am not as bothered by what they choose to emphasize. Any time the word order differs from language to language, I have learned to care and pay close attention. Also, in this lesson we have to understand the difference between direct and indirect object pronouns. Then there are reflexive verbs. Yum.
Rob-B23

Rob-B23

It's not a major bother for me either Robert. I noted it may be too fine a point. I will definitely take your advice to read through these multiple times. I'm also doing what Dan suggests, listening to both a new and old lesson, when I can. Gracias, Rob
Ava Dawn

Ava Dawn

Sometimes ignorance is bliss. Now I really have to check those lessons.
maha266

maha266

I'm about to work on those lessons, i skipped them for a while until i read them on another source - in my language, then back here to review -in english. which makes grammar less confusing. Thanks for your notes. save the page for later :D
Ava Dawn

Ava Dawn

Because of the module test number four, I am now ready to tackle the direct and indirect objects. I finished reviewing lesson 4.8. So far so good.

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