Definition of Direct-Indirect Object

In the sentences different relationships are presented between the different elements that compose them. These relationships give rise to the so-called syntactic functions of the sentence, such as the direct and indirect object, also called complement direct and indirect.

Both complements have a relationship with the action expressed by the verb of the sentence

It is called a direct object because the action of the verb falls on it in an obvious and direct way, while it is It speaks of an indirect object because the action of the verb falls on it in a secondary way, that is, indirectly.

In the sentence "I told the truth to my teacher", we find a direct object (the truth) and an indirect object (my teacher). The action of the verb falls on the direct object and, secondarily, on the indirect object.

Examples of direct and indirect object

The first expresses what is said about the subject through the verb. In this way, if I say "Manuel has seen a game", to identify

the direct object we must do the question "What to the verb", that is to say, "what has Manuel seen". In this case, the answer is "a match". In this way, "a match" is the direct object of the sentence.

The indirect object is a modifier that accompanies the coreverbal and, therefore, we must ask the question to or for whom to the verb to identify it. Thus, in the sentence "I made a cake for Agnes", the following question should be asked: for whom did I make a cake. In this case, the answer is "for Ines". In this way, "for Inés it is the indirect object." In this sentence "a cake" acts as a direct object.

Although the questions to the verb serve to identify both complements, this method it is not always decisive in detecting the direct and the indirect object. In this sense, the direct object does not always refer to objects and the indirect object does not always refer to people either.

In the sentence "Luis wrote a poem ", a poem acts as a direct object because a poem could be replaced by what, that is," Luis wrote it. " Thus, if a possible direct object can be replaced by “lo”, “la”, “los” or “las”, it is really a direct object. In the sentence, "Francisco kissed Maria", Maria is a direct object because we could say "Francisco kissed her."

In addition to the direct and indirect object, there are also circumstantial complements of the sentence

The circumstantial complements are those that describe the way in which a certain situation develops.

In the sentence "Today it has been cut twice with the bread knife", we find three circumstantial complements: "Today" is a complement circumstantial of time, "with the bread knife" is a circumstantial complement of instrument and "twice" is a circumstantial complement of amount.

Photos: Fotolia - Robert Kneschke / Drubig

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