Pronouns: subject, object and reflexive

When a first-person source becomes a third-person answer, the verb ending and the pronoun must change together. Real failures: me levanto becomes just levanta, dropping the reflexive se (should be se levanta); le sorprendió written as plain sorprendió, dropping the object pronoun. Never change the ending and leave the pronoun behind.

A first-person me can become lo/la or le in the third person, depending on the verb. Source no me quiso escuchar needs no le/lo quiso escuchar; guessing wrong, or dropping the pronoun, loses the mark. Whether a verb takes a direct object (ver, escuchar) or an indirect one (dar, gustar) is a property of each verb — learn it per verb, not from the English.

Spanish needs the personal a before a specific person: Veo a mi madre, not veo mi madre. It matters for pronouns because the personal a is what a direct object pronoun later replaces: veo a mi madre -> la veo. Use it before a specific person (and nadie/alguien/quién), never a thing. Writing marks its omission under Accuracy.

Gustar-type verbs need an indirect object pronoun (not reflexive/subject): me gusto, mi gusta, se gustan are all wrong — only me/te/le/nos/os/les + gusta(n) is correct. The verb agrees with the thing liked, not the person: me gustan los libros, me gusta el chocolate. The clarifying a mí phrase reinforces the pronoun, never replaces it.

Spanish never allows le/les directly before lo/la/los/las. When both pronouns meet, the indirect object le/les changes to se: doy el libro a mi abuela -> se lo doy (I give it to her), never le lo doy; escribo una carta a mi abuela -> se la escribo, never le la escribo. The direct object pronoun is unchanged; only le/les becomes se.

A pronoun goes before a conjugated verb (lo veo), may attach to an infinitive/gerund (voy a verlo = lo voy a ver; estoy viéndolo), and must attach to an affirmative command (hazlo, levántate). Attaching often shifts the stress, so a written accent is added: levanta -> levántate, compra -> cómpralo. Forgetting that accent is an accuracy error.

A common misconception is that the object or reflexive pronoun is optional once the person is clear — giving levanta for se levanta, or sorprendió for le sorprendió. These pronouns are grammatically obligatory: levantar (to raise) and levantarse (to get up) are different verbs, and sorprender always needs an object. Dropping the pronoun changes the meaning.