question about pronoun placement

Darrell S.B1Kwiziq community member

question about pronoun placement

In one question, I was tasked to translate "I want to buy it for him."     I selected " Quiero se lo comprar."   and was marked wrong.   I understand that one could say "Quiero comprárselo." , which was the correct answer.   But I always thought that you could have the pronouns attached to the infinitive or put them in front.   

Asked 1 year ago
InmaNative Spanish expert teacher in Kwiziq

Hola Darrell

You can indeed put them in front as well, but it needs to be in front of the whole verbal structure, not just in front of the infinitive. So you can either say:

Quiero comprárselo 

or 

Se lo quiero comprar

but not in the middle of the structure "quiero se lo comprar".

I hope it clarifies it.

Saludos

Darrell S. asked:

question about pronoun placement

In one question, I was tasked to translate "I want to buy it for him."     I selected " Quiero se lo comprar."   and was marked wrong.   I understand that one could say "Quiero comprárselo." , which was the correct answer.   But I always thought that you could have the pronouns attached to the infinitive or put them in front.   

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