La gramática inglesa: los pronombres personales con dos complementos.

Se suele ordenar la frase: objeto directo + objeto indirecto con 'to' delante del objeto indirecto.
I gave it (masc.) to him/her/you/them	Se lo di
John gave the bunch of flowers to the pretty girl.	John dio el ramo de flores a la chica guapa
Pero si los dos complementos son pronombres, es posible invertir los complementos...
I gave him it	Se lo di
I gave it to him / her / you / them	Se la di
I told him / her	Se lo dije a él/a ella
I told you	Te lo dije
I told you / them	Se lo dije a usted(es) / a ellos(as)
I told you	Os lo dije
They gave them to him / her / you / them	Se los dieron
We gave them to him / her / you / them	Se las dimos

  

Five-minute Spanish Lessons - comparing the two languages. Lesson 1.

You / Tú, Vosotros /as, Vos, Usted, Ustedes (1)

Learners of English often find it strange but there is only one way to address the person, animal (or thing) we are talking to: "you":

We should like to invite you to a small inauguration party with wine and light snacks. (Formal invitation to business client)
Nos complace invitarle a una pequeña fiesta de inauguración con vino y tapas (Spanish "usted" formal)

Do you want to come out for a drink, John?
¿Te apetece salir a tomar una copa, John? (Spanish "tú" informal)

Come over to the grass, Fido; you can't do your business here!
Ven aquí al césped, Lucky; ¡aquí no puedes hacer caca! (Spanish "tú" informal)

Right, tele. I've had it up to here with you! Work now or I'll rip out your cathode ray tubes!
Vale, tele. ¡Se acabó! Funciona ya o te arranco los tubos de rayos catódicos. (Very informal "tú"!)

Exceptions must be when talking to royalty but I shall not go into that in depth for the rare occasions most students have to practise this:

Would you like another cup of tea Your Majesty?
¿Quiere su Majestad tomar otra taza de té?

Learners of Spanish need to be aware of all the possibilities of address and (unfortunately) learn all the accompanying verb forms!

"Tú" is used widely in Spain when you are on a first name basis, or to children and animals. Spanish children usually call adults "tú". But "usted" (formal) is reserved for situations between adults in daily situations such as contact with strangers or respect to older people:

(Adult shouts at a child in the street)

Hey, kid! You can't play with your ball round here!
¡Oye, tú, niño! ¡No puedes jugar a la pelota por aquí! (informal)

(Adult to adult. To know who is the last in a queue in the bank etc.)

Are you the last in the queue?
¿Usted es el último, señor? (formal)

(Buying a lottery ticket in Spain)

Have you got one that finishes in a three?
¿Tiene uno que termina en tres? (formal)

I'm sorry, madam. But I've only got left one with forty-seven
Usted, perdone, señora. Pero sólo me queda el cuarenta y siete

In South America "usted" is more widely used than in Spain. Rules of use vary from country to country but children usually call adults "usted" and in some cases even speak to their parents with "usted". In some South American countries such as Argentina, "vos" may replace "tú" in the informal style. Though the object pronoun is still "te" and the possessive adjective "tu":

I'm going to report you. I'm fed up with you and your dog around here.
Te voy a denunciar. Es que estoy harto de vos y tu perro por acá

"Vos", in South America, usually takes another verb form other than the "tu" or "usted" forms. Though these verb forms may differ from region to region so these are best learnt in the country you are visiting:

Marta, my love. You are the joy of my heart
Marta de mi vida, vos sos la alegría de mi corazón (Argentina)

The plural informal form "vosotros" ("vosotras" - feminine) is heard mostly in Spain and rarely in South America, where "ustedes" is usually used.

Are you coming to see me this weekend? You can come by car.
¿Venís (vosotras) a verme este fin de semana? Podéis venir en coche. (Spain)
¿Vienen (ustedes) a verme...? Pueden venir... (South America)

Learning the "usted" and "ustedes" verb forms is made easier if the student remembers that they coincide with the third person, eg,: él/ella and ellos/ellas:

(Chairman in a formal business meeting. "Como verán" also = They will see)

You will see there are three points on the agenda
Como verán, el orden del día tiene tres puntos

However, note that the Spanish use "you" when somebody identifies himself/herself when behind a door, on the phone or anywhere they cannot be seen. This may sound strange for English speakers:

(On the phone)

- Hello, Mary
- Sorry, who is this? / who is it?  (In Spanish, "who are you?")
- It's me, Jane. (In Spanish, "I'm me")
- Oh, hello, Jane. How are you?

- Hola, Mary
- Perdone, ¿quién es (usted)? / ¿quién eres (tú)?
- Soy yo, Jane
- Hola, Jane. ¿Qué tal? 

Five-minute Spanish Lessons - comparing the two languages. Lesson 39.

You / Tú, Vosotros /as, Vos, Usted, Ustedes (2)

In this lesson we are going to look at some uses of the above words in interesting colloquial expressions in Spanish and English.

"You" can be used to mean your style or your personality:

Those glasses aren't you. They're too bright
Esas gafas no te favorecen. Son demasiado llamativas

I'm surprised you swore at that poor woman. That's not like you to do that
Me sorprende que soltaste una palabrota delante de esa pobre mujer. No sueles decir esas cosas.

And talking of insults; in English it's common to place "you" before a noun or adjective + noun (often) when insulting somebody but not in Spanish:

You prat! (Br.E)
You jerk! (Am.E)

¡Imbécil! (General)
¡Gilipollas! (Spain)

¡Pendejo /a! (S.Am)
You silly nincompoop!

(Not as strong as the above expressions.)

¡Papanatas!

Also, for endearment:

I love you! You beautiful thing you!

(Note the possible repetition of "you" at the end.)

Te quiero! ¡Eres la cosa más linda!

Similarly, in English we can call to others using "you". This may be possible in Spanish too:

Hey, you! Shut up and get out!
¡Oye, tú! (Spain) ¡Cállate y sal de aquí!

¡Oiga, usted! (S.Am) ¡Cállese y salga de aquí!

And for more than one person:

Excuse me, you two. But I think it's time to leave now
Disculpan, vosotros dos. Pero creo que ya es hora de marcharse

Ok. Let's go, you guys (Am.E)

(Note that US American may refer to males and/or females as "guys" in this type of expression.)

Ok. Let's go you lot (Br.E)

Vámonos, chicos

(All males or males and females)

Vámonos, chicas

(All females)

In today's spoken English "you" is used as an impersonal pronoun or when we mean "people in general". Spanish may do this too or where possible use "se" + verb:

There's so much violence in the world nowadays.
What can you do?

Hay tanta violencia en el mundo hoy en día.
¿Qué se puede hacer? / ¿Qué puedes hacer?

When you're in that situation, you just don't have time to react
Cuando te encuentras en esa situación, no tienes tiempo para reaccionar

Especially in South America, you can hear the use of "uno":

Cuando uno no tiene trabajo. ¿Qué puede hacer uno? (S.Am)
Cuando no tienes trabajo. ¿Qué se puede hacer? (Spain)

When you haven't got a job. What can you do?

As the direct object of a sentence, impersonal "you" is still used in English. In South America the structure is 3rd person "lo" + verb + "a uno" while in Spain it's more common to hear the 2nd person "te" + verb

When somebody attacks you like that from behind. There's nothing you can do about it.

Cuando alguien lo atraca a uno por detrás de esa manera. No hay nada que hacer. (S.Am)
Cuando alguien te atraca por detrás de esa manera. No hay nada que hacer. (Spain)

And impersonal "you" as an indirect object follows the same rules but in South American Spanish we use the indirect object pronoun: "le":

They tell you the cheque (Am.E check) is on it's way but it always takes ages to arrive

Le dicen a uno que el cheque está en camino pero siempre tarda muchísimo en llegar (S.Am)
Te dicen que el talón está en camino pero siempre tarda muchísimo en llegar (Spain)