Lo, La, or Le?

I've referred before to the excellent podcasts, created by Mercedes Leon, from Barcelona, at www.spanishpodcast.org, and how I habitually listen to them, while driving to work.

Recently, I was listening to one which dealt with what can be a fundamental issue for novice Spanish learners, and it occurred to me that someone might benefit from a translation of some of Mercedes' words of wisdom , well before they reach the level of fluency required to enjoy her podcasts.

The original transcript of the podcast, mainly in Spanish, is at http://www.spanishpodcast.org/podcasts_con_transcripcion/dileT.html .
I'm sure Mercedes wouldn't mind me converting at least some of the concepts from it into English.

Firstly, lets get some scary grammatical terms out of the way.
1)Pronoun: a word which replaces a noun. If the 'ball' is the noun, 'it' is the pronoun. If 'Roger' is the noun, 'him' is the pronoun.
2) Direct Object: This is the thing or person that the verb acts upon. So, in the sentence 'I throw the ball', the ball is the Direct Object of the verb. Which means that, in the sentence 'I throw it' (meaning the ball) 'it' is the Direct Object Pronoun, the pronoun which takes the place of the Direct Object.
3)Indirect Object: something that 'receives' or 'suffers' the RESULT of the verb acting on the Direct Object. I realise that sounds really obscure, so let's clarify with an example. 'I throw the ball to Sam'. Sam is the Indirect Object of me throwing the ball (the ball is the Direct Object of my throwing)

Put it all together and we get 'I threw it to him', where 'it' is the Direct Object Pronoun, standing for the ball, and 'him' is the Indirect Object Pronoun, standing for Sam.
If you're still not sure, try this test.
Ask WHAT is thrown?
Answer:it/the ball (Direct Obj)
To (or at) WHO (or what) is it thrown?
Answer:him/Sam (Indirect Obj)

But what's all this really about?
Three simple words 'lo', 'la', and 'le'.
In their simplest forms,in order, they mean 'him or it', 'her or it' , and 'to him, to her or to it' (can also mean 'of', or 'from' him,her or it, as well as some other meanings)

In English, things are really simple, because you don't have any choice but to use 'him', 'her', or 'it' for both direct and indirect pronoun.
Give him the book (= give the book TO him). . him = Indirect Object Pronoun - 'the book' was the thing being given (Direct Obj Pronoun)
I took him to school . . him = Direct Object Pronoun - 'HE' was the person or thing taken
but both examples use 'him' as the Object Pronoun, Indirect or Direct

In Spanish
Di le el libro = to HIM (le) give the book
Lo llevo a la escuela = HIM (lo) I take to school
differentiating between HIM and TO Him

So trying to make it as strightforward as possible (and I didn't realise how difficult that would be :¬) If the verb acts DIRECTLY on the thing or person, use the Direct Obj Pronoun 'Lo' or ''La'
Examples:
I pushed it - Lo empujé
I threw it - Lo eché
I hit him - Lo golpeé
I found her - La encontré

If the verb has an INDIRECT action on the thing or person, use the Indirect Obj Pronoun 'Le' Examples:
I threw the toy to her - Le eché el jugete a ella (here 'a ella' is added, to clarify the gender of the recipient, as 'le' can be regarded as a neutral pronoun)
I read the book to him - Le leí el libro
I gave him lunch - Le dí el almuerzo

Unfortunately Spanish has one more 'gotcha', which I really need to include.
As you probably know, when you carry out an action on a person, rather than an object, Spanish insists that you include an 'a' after the verb.
Example:
Golpeé a Sam - I hit Sam.
Recogí a los niños - I collected the kids.
Now the usual translation of the word 'a' is 'to'.
This can cause confusion, when identifying your pronoun.
I said that 'le' means 'to him' so, surely, 'a Sam' means 'to Sam', so wouldn't you say 'Le golpeé'?
Unfortunately not.
The 'a' in these cases doesn't mean 'to'. It's just a way of personalising the verb, to identify that it is acting on a person, rather than an object, so the correct version is 'Lo golpeé'

I'd like to be able to give you a formula for avoiding this error, but the only method I can think of is to construct the sentence in English, realise that the word 'to' is not included in the English version, then translate it, but that rather contradicts my preference for trying to think in Spanish, so your brain isn't trying to handle two languages at once!

Otherwise you could try asking yourself what the construction would be, if you substituted an inanimate object, or an animal, for the person.
Apart from that, I just want to be sure that you're aware of the trap, and leave it to you to find a way of not falling in to it.

Well this has turned out to be a much more complicated explanation than I expected (honestly Mercede's Spanish version seems a lot simpler) but I hope it has given you a few pointers on how to sort out Direct and Indirect Object Pronouns.

¡Hasta la próxima!