Pitman's Commercial Spanish Grammar (2nd ed.)

Pronouns in the Disjunctive form occupy the same position in the sentence as they do in English.

Pronouns in the Conjunctive form precede the verb, as --

Él los compró: He bought them.

Yo le mostraré á V. mi libro mayor y mi diario: I shall show you my ledger and journal or day-book.

Mi cajero les pagará lo que les debo: My cashier will pay you what I owe you.

Nos ha exhibido su libro de facturas: He showed us his invoice book.

Me cedió los valores y efectos en cartera: He made over to me his stock of securities and bills.

El corredor le vió en la agencia de los vapores: The broker saw him at the steamship agent's.

EXCEPTIONS --

1. When a sentence begins with a verb, especially if the sentence is a long one, the Conjunctive pronoun may follow the verb, except when this is in the Subjunctive Mood, as --

Bonificóle esta cantidad en cuenta corriente para no perder el cliente: He credited him the amount in A/c current in order not to lose his customer.

N.B. -- Students should not indulge in this liberty until they have acquired practice in the language. In conversation this change seldom occurs. When the change is used the Subject Pronoun is generally left understood.

2. When the verb is in the Infinitive Mood, Gerund, or Imperative Mood,[78] the Conjunctive Pronoun must follow, and is joined to the verb to form one word: as --

Lo mejor con estos géneros es venderlos en subasta: The best thing with these goods is to sell them by auction.

Abandonándole la ganancia acabaremos con el asunto: By giving up the profit to him, we shall end the matter.

Refiéralos V. á los armadores: Refer them to the shipowners.

Hágannos Vs. esta bonificación: Make us this allowance.

Cárguenos en cuenta este renglón: Debit this line to our account.

Abónenle la suma que reclama: Credit him with the amount he claims.

Footnote 78: By Imperative Mood, we mean Imperative Mood Affirmative. In Spanish there is no imperative mood negative, its place being taken by the Present Subjunctive, as --

Háblale tú: Speak to him.
No le hables tú: Do not speak to him.

If two Conjunctive pronouns meet, contrary to the English general rule, the pronoun which stands as indirect object precedes the pronoun standing as direct object,[79] as --

Ellos nos lo garantizan: They guarantee it to us.

If these two pronouns are both in the 3rd person, the indirect object is changed into Se, as --

Nosotros se lo vendimos: We sold it to him. V. se lo mandó (á ella)[80]: You sent it to her. Nosotros se lo aconsejamos (á ellos)[80]: We gave them that advice. Yo se lo digo (á V.)[80]: I tell it to you.

Footnote 79: Combinations of me and te are very rare, and then te precedes whether direct or indirect object, the context clearly showing the meaning. In such cases it is better, however, to use a disjunctive form, for the indirect object, as --

Él te da á mí: He gives thee to me.
Él me da á tí: He gives me to thee.

Footnote 80: Á él, á ella, á V., etc., may be added for clearness, when otherwise ambiguity might occur.