This post you will help you understand what a leismo is and recognize it.
In addition, there are plenty of examples with audios to help you better understand the concepts and to practice your listening skills.
Definition of Leismo
Leismo consists of replacing the direct object pronoun lo/la/los/las with the indirect object pronoun le/les to mention él/ella or ellos/ellas. That is, it is the use of le/les as a direct object.
Primarily, this occurs when the direct object refers to a male person (le instead of lo).
Examples
Abreviation: Direct Object Pronouns (DOPS).
| SPANISH | ENGLISH | DOPs | LEISMO | ENGLISH |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Llamo al chico | I call the boy | Lo llamo | Le llamo | I call him |
| Llamo a la chica | I call the girl | La llamo | Le llamo | I call her |
| Llamo a los chicos | I call the boys | Los llamo | Les llamo | I call them |
| Llamo a las chicas | I call the girls | Las llamo | Les llamo | I call them |
| Vi a tu padre | I saw your father | Lo vi | Le vi | I saw him |
| Vi a tus amigos | I saw your friends | Los vi | Les vi | I saw them |
What Does Real Academia Española Say?
Even though leismo is not grammatically correct, Real Academia Española (RAE) accepts the use of le as direct object of person for singular masculine. This is due to its extended use among educated speakers. However, they don’t accept the use the “plural leismo” or it refers to an object.
Examples
Abreviations: Approved by RAE (A) and rejected by RAE (R).
| SPANISH | ENGLISH | DOPs | LEISMO | ENGLISH |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amo a Juan | I love Juan | Lo amo | Le amo (A) | I love him |
| Conozco a los jefes | I know the bosses | Los conozco | Les conozco (R) | I know them |
| Veo el edificio | I see the building | Lo veo | Le veo (R) | I see it |
Where Does Leismo Occur?
Leismo occurs in the center-north-eastern zone of Spain and some parts of South America as it is mentioned at Un análisis microparamétrico by Jordina Nogués Graell.
Final Thoughts
Because this phenomenon is as common in Spain, most people do not have any problem with it. They use it in their everyday language.
Therefore, if you ever plan on traveling to Spain, be ready to recognize these pronouns. And not just that, after a while you will may end up using them.
Before you leave, are you interested in Spain and its language? Then, you may find our online Spanish classes helpful. With these classes, you will practice your speaking and listening skills with a native speaker from Spain.
Hola and hi, I am Inés and I am the author of all the posts in the ConvoSpanish blog. My goal is to offer free content for people to practice their Spanish. Creating and maintaining the blog takes a lot of my free time however, due to my love of sharing Spanish with you, I will keep adding and updating the content in the blog. If you like the content of this post and believe that it helps you, please consider donating. I need coffee to keep me going while creating the posts. Aren´t they worth at least a cup of coffee? 😛 Any amount is appreciated. Donations will be used to support the free blog.
