placed either before the governing verb, or after the regimen; as, te pudieras levantar, or pudieras levantarte, thou mightest rise. Fariety in the use of the Objective Cases. RULE 48. Prepositions when expressed always govern the second objective case; as Sin tí, Para mí, Contra ellos, For me. Without thee. Against them. Note a.-Mi, ti, sí, when preceded by con, take go after them, and are joined to the preposition; as, conmigo, contigo, consigo. Note b.-Entre is used with the subject case of the first and second persons singular, in this expression, entre tú y yo, between thee and me; but in every instance besides it governs the second objective case; as, entre sí, between themselves; entre nosotros, between us. Note c.-The second objective case is always used after comparatives; as, te quiero mas que á él, I love thee better than him; me dan ménos que á tí, they give me less than thee; nos dió tanto dinero como á ellos, he gave us as much money as them. RULE 49. When in English the objective case of the first or second person is the regimen of the verb, or of the preposition to expressed or understood, we use the first case ;* as RULE 50. If the objective case of the third person be the regimen of the English verb, we translate it by le, los for the masculine, la, last for the feminine, and lot for the neuter; as * Except after comparatives. See Rule 48, note c. + Except after comparatives. See Rule 48, note c. See also Rule 51, note e. She saw them, Ella los vió. RULE 51. If the third person in English is governed by the preposition to expressed or understood, we render it by le, les,* for both genders; as We spoke to him, Nosotros le hablamos. Ella les dixo. Note a-The third person being governed by to, in English, either expressed or understood, is expressed by se if the regimen of the verb be a pronoun of the third person; as, he brought her a jewel, and sent it to her, le compró una joya, ye se la mandó; I shall write them three letters, and will send them to them, les escribiré tres cartas, y se las mandaré; I sent them six lines, and she read them to them, yo les mandé seis renglones, y ella se los leyó; my servant will give it him, mi criado se lo dará. N. B. For the manner in which adjectives are made to agree with the reflective pronoun se, see note c to Rule 23. Note b.-When two first objective cases occur in the sentence, one of which is the regimen of the verb, and the other is governed in English by the preposition to either expressed or understood, the regimen of the verb is to be placed last; as, she told it me, ella me lo dixo; I was going to tell it to thee, iba á decirtelo; I gave it to him, yo se lo dí. But if the regimen of the verb be the reflective pronoun, it must be placed first; as, he discovered himself immediately to me, luego se me descubrió. Note c.-Both the objective cases belonging to the same person are sometimes used together in Spanish, to give more energy to the expression, and then the second must always be preceded by á. Example, mi madre me ama á mí, my mother loves me; su hermana te aborrece á tí, his sister hates thee; él se lo mandó á ella, he sent it to her; ella se ama á sí, she loves herself; él se lo contó á ellas, he related it to them; yo les dixe las noticias á ellos, I told them the news; yo se las diré á vms., I will tell them to you. Note d.-The second objective case of any of the persons ought not to be in the sentence preceded by á, as the regimen of the verb, without being accompanied by the first: therefore such expressions as these, á él quiero, á tí amo, are faulty; they should be á él le quiero, á tí te amo. The place of the second objective case in simi * Except after comparatives. See Rule 48, note c. Except after a comparative; as, Y siempre me creian á mí mas que á él; and they always believed me more than him. Gil Blas, ch. 5. lar cases is restricted to the following rules: 1st, If the first objective case should precede the verb, the second may be placed either before the first, or after the verb; as, á tí te amo, or te amo á tí, I love thee. 2dly, If the first objective case follow the verb, the second must be placed after the first; as, amandole á él, loving him. Note e. To construe the English pronoun it, when it represents a noun of the masculine gender in Spanish, by the neuter pronoun lo, is incorrrect. Lo can never be properly employed, unless the object to which it refers be one to which we cannot ascribe either the masculine or the fe.ninine gender; as, the book I bought I will send (it) to thee, el libro que compré te le mandaré; no: promise that thou wilt bring it to me to-morrow, no: promete que me le traeras mañana; I promise it to thee, te lo prometo It in the first two examples is rendered le, because it refers to libro, which is masculine, but in the last it is construed lo, because the English pronoun does not refer to the book, but to the action of bringing it the following day. POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS Are mio, tuyo, suyo, nuestro, vuestro. N.B. The o is changed into a for the feminine termination. RULE 52. Possessives always agree in gender, number, and case, with the possession; as Nuestro jardin, Our garden. Of our gardens. In your villas. RULE 53. Possessive pronouns, when used as pronominal adjectives,* precede the noun with which they agree; as Nuestros empeños, Our endeavours. Your virtues. RULE 54. Mio, tuyo, and suyo, lose their last syllable when placed before the noun; as * That is, when they represent my, thy, his, her, its, our, your, their, in English. See Observation after Demonstratives, p. 42. Mi conducta, Mis palabras, Sus pasiones, My conduct. RULE 55. Mio is placed after, in our addresses, that is, when it agrees with the second person; as ¡Acuerdate, hijo mio! ¡Querida patria mia! solo * Remember, my son ! RULE 56. When possessives are used as pronouns, they agree in gender, number, and case, with the noun which they represent, and are preceded by the definite article; as Tu casa y la mia, nuestros, Nuestra bata y la suya, ours. Our gown and hers. Vuestras palabras y las suyas, Your words and his. Su inocencia y la mia, Their innocence and mine. Thy crimes and theirs. * That is, when they are equivalent to mine, thine, his, hers, its, ours, yours, theirs. N. B. Possessives are preceded by the neuter article, when they are indefinitely used; as, lo mio no es tuyo, ni lo tuyo suyo, mine is not thine, nor thine his. See Rule 25. RULE 57. When the possessive pronoun is connected with the noun by a verb, the article is omitted; as Este libro es mio, This book is mine. Note a.-The verb need not be expressed when the assertion is an answer to a foregoing question; as, ¿ De quien es esa casa? mia. De quien son estos libros? nuestros, &c. RULE 58. When mine, thine, &c. are preceded by of, we omit the preposition and article, and place the possessive after the noun; as, A friend of mine, One of your houses, Un amigo mio. Un autor nuestro. Una casa vuestra. Dos criados mios. Observation. The English possessive adjective, when it agrees with any part of the body, is changed into the Spanish definite article in the following instances: 1st, After all reflective verbs: as, she washed her hands, ella se lavó las manos, i. e. she to herself washed the hands. 2d, When the part of the body with which the adjective agrees in English is not the subject of a verb; as, in vain I entreated pardon with tears in my eyes, en vano pedia perdon con las lágrimas en los ojos; he gave me his hand, el me dió la mano. If the part of the body with which the possessive adjective agrees does not belong to the subject of the verb, the individual to whom it belongs must be represented by the corresponding personal pronoun in its first objective case; as, I washed |