Dímelo, Pásamelo - Pronoun Attachment in Commands

You can now form affirmative (Lesson 1) and negative (Lesson 2) imperatives. This lesson covers the move that makes Spanish commands sound truly Spanish: attaching pronouns. Dame el pan is fine. Dámelo ("give it to me") is better. Pásame la sal is fine. Pásamela is what a Spaniard would actually say. Pronoun attachment is the small move that compresses everyday speech. The rule is simple but the execution takes a week to lock in.

The Rule — Attachment Position

Spanish places object pronouns differently depending on whether the imperative is affirmative or negative:

Affirmative command → pronouns attach after the verb, written as one word.

Negative command → pronouns go before the verb, written as separate words.

A side-by-side reference shows the symmetry:

Affirmative	Negative
Dímelo. Tell it to me.	No me lo digas. Don't tell it to me.
Pásamelo. Pass it to me.	No me lo pases. Don't pass it to me.
Levántate. Get up.	No te levantes. Don't get up.
Siéntate. Sit down.	No te sientes. Don't sit down.
Vete. Go away.	No te vayas. Don't leave.
Cállate. Be quiet.	No te calles. Don't be quiet.

The rule is mechanical and applies across every subject (tú, vosotros, usted, nosotros, ustedes).

Pronoun Order — Reflexive / Indirect / Direct

When you attach more than one pronoun, the order matters. The rule is the same as everywhere else in Spanish:

Reflexive → Indirect object → Direct object → verb

(RID, in that order)

Examples of stacked pronouns:

Pronoun stack	Attached to imperative
me + lo	dámelo
te + lo	te lo doy / dátelo
nos + la	dánosla
os + las	dádnoslas / dádselas
se + lo	dáselo

When le or les would meet lo, la, los, las, the le/les changes to se to avoid the awkward le lo sequence:

Wrong	Right
dale lo ❌	díselo ✅ (tell it to him)
dale la ❌	dásela ✅ (give it to her)

The rule for the swap: le lo / le la / le los / le las / les lo / les la / les los / les las → all become se + direct object pronoun.

A few real examples:

Pásamela. – Pass it to me. (la sal)
Dáselo a Lucía. – Give it to Lucía. (el regalo)
Cuéntamelo todo. – Tell me everything.
Tráenoslas. – Bring them to us. (las llaves)
Quédatelo. – Keep it. (the book)

Stress Accents — Why Dímelo Is Spelled That Way

When you attach pronouns to an affirmative imperative, Spanish often needs to add a written accent to keep the original stress in place. The rule is straightforward once you see why.

The original imperative is stressed on the last (or second-to-last) syllable. When you attach one or two pronouns, the word grows longer — often a syllable or two — and the stress would naturally drift. To prevent that drift, Spanish writes an accent on the original stressed vowel:

Bare imperative	+ 1 pronoun	+ 2 pronouns
da	dame	dámelo
di	dime	dímelo
haz	hazme	házmelo
pon	ponte	pónmelo
ven	vente	vénmelo (rare)
trae	tráeme	tráemelo
pasa	pásame	pásamela
levanta	levántate	(no further drift)
sienta	siéntate	(no further drift)

A useful rule of thumb: if you attach one pronoun, you usually only need an accent if the original verb was already stressed on the second-to-last syllable (pasa → pásame, levanta → levántate). If you attach two pronouns, you almost always need one (pasa → pásamela, levanta → levántamela).

A Quick Reflexive Note

Reflexive verbs follow the same attachment rule. Levantarse, sentarse, ducharse, callarse, irse all attach the reflexive pronoun behind the affirmative imperative:

Affirmative	Negative
levántate	no te levantes
siéntate	no te sientes
dúchate	no te duches
cállate	no te calles
vete	no te vayas

For vosotros, the -d drops before -os (Lesson 1). And for nosotros, the -s drops before nos:

Subject	Verb	Affirmative
tú	levantarse	levántate
usted	levantarse	levántese
vosotros	levantarse	levantaos
nosotros	levantarse	levantémonos

The nosotros -s drop is a tiny rule but a frequent one. Vamos a sentarnos ("we're going to sit") becomes sentémonos ("let's sit") — note the dropped s before nos. Similarly vámonos ("let's go") drops the s of vamos before nos. Spaniards say vámonos at the end of every dinner.

Practice

Words to Remember

Spanish	English
dame	give me
dámelo	give it to me
dime	tell me
dímelo	tell it to me
pásame	pass me
pásamelo	pass it to me
pásamela	pass it to me (la sal)
dáselo	give it to him/her
dásela	give it to him/her
cuéntamelo	tell me about it
tráemelo	bring it to me
levántate	get up
siéntate	sit down
dúchate	shower / take a shower
vete	go away
cállate	be quiet
no te levantes	don't get up
no me lo digas	don't tell me
vámonos	let's go
sentémonos	let's sit

Conversation

At the dinner table

Marta: Pásame la sal, anda. Pass me the salt, come on.

Diego: Toma, pásamela tú también cuando termines. Here, pass it to me too when you're done.

Marta: Y tráeme el pan, por favor. And bring me the bread, please.

Buying a gift for a friend

Lucía: Mira este libro, ¿se lo doy a Pablo? Look at this book, shall I give it to Pablo?

Sofía: Sí, dáselo. Le va a encantar. Yes, give it to him. He'll love it.

Lucía: Vale, no me lo recuerdes mañana o se me olvida. OK, don't remind me tomorrow or I'll forget.

Leaving a party

Javi: Vámonos ya, que se hace tarde. Let's go, it's getting late.

Carmen: Espera, dime una cosa antes. Wait, tell me one thing first.

Javi: Cuéntamelo en el taxi. Tell me in the taxi.

Cultural Note

Pronoun attachment is the most concentrated form of Spanish you'll learn in this course. Dímelo packs a verb, an indirect object, and a direct object into five letters. It's also the most distinctive feature of spoken Spanish — nothing else in the language asks you to glue four small parts into one written word. For learners, the form looks intimidating; for native speakers, it's automatic.

The fastest way to internalise it is to listen for the stress in real speech. Spaniards say DÍmelo, PÁsamela, CUÉntalo with the stress at the beginning. The accents on the page are pointing at the stress in the air. If you can mimic the stress, the spelling becomes a description of what you're saying, not a separate set of rules.

A small register tip for Spain: the imperative + pronoun combination is the default register between friends, family, and even with shop assistants once you're a regular. Pónmela to the bartender (a caña) is friendly. Me pones una caña, por favor (no attachment, third-person request) is more polite. The two coexist; the attached imperative just shortens by half. Once you're three weeks into using pásamelo, dímelo, ponmela, you stop sounding like a Spanish student and start sounding like someone who lives there.

A pitfall to avoid: do not attach pronouns to the negative imperative. No me lo digas is correct; no dímelo is wrong. The reverse error (separating pronouns from the affirmative) is also wrong: dí me lo isn't Spanish — it has to be dímelo as one word. Affirmative attaches; negative detaches. That single rule is the whole game.