leísmo

thumb|Area of leísmo and loísmo/laísmo in central Spain|class=skin-invert-image Leísmo ("using le") is a dialectal variation in the Spanish language that occurs largely in Spain. It involves using the indirect object pronouns le and les in place of the (generally standard) direct object pronouns lo, la, los, and las, especially when the direct object refers to a male person or people.

Leísmo with animate objects is both common and prescriptively accepted in many dialects spoken in Spain, but uncommon in most others. It thus typically correlates with the use of the preposition a for animate direct objects (for this "personal a", see Spanish prepositions). Leísmo is always rejected in linguistic prescription when the direct object to which it refers is not an animate object. For example: '' ("I see the boy") → Lo veo (standard Spanish, with lo) ("I see the boy") → Le veo (leísmo, common in Spain; other regions prefer lo veo) ("I see the tree") → Le veo (not accepted in linguistic prescription — the tree is not a person)