section_path: Dialectal variation/Morphology/Third-person object pronouns
section_name: Third-person object pronouns
paragraph_text: Third-person object pronouns
  
  Most speakers use (and the Real Academia Española prefers) the pronouns lo and la for direct objects (masculine and feminine respectively, regardless of animacy, meaning "him", "her", or "it"), and le for indirect objects (regardless of gender or animacy, meaning "to him", "to her", or "to it"). The usage is sometimes called "etymological", as these direct and indirect object pronouns are a continuation, respectively, of the accusative and dative pronouns of Latin, the ancestor language of Spanish.
  
  Deviations from this norm (more common in Spain than in the Americas) are called " leísmo ", " loísmo ", or " laísmo ", according to which respective pronoun, le, lo, or la, has expanded beyond the etymological usage (le as a direct object, or lo or la as an indirect object).