Where object and reflexive pronouns sit

Short, unstressed object pronouns (me, je, het, hem, haar, ze, ons) and reflexive pronouns (me, je, zich, ons) are placed directly after the finite verb (the conjugated verb), near the front of the sentence, before adverbials of time, manner and place. Hij wast zich. (He washes himself.) Ik heb het hem gisteren gegeven. (I gave it to him yesterday.)

An unstressed object or reflexive pronoun sits directly after the finite verb — or after the subject when the subject follows the verb — ahead of any time, manner or place word. The cases:

1. A reflexive pronoun comes right after the finite verb. Ik was me elke ochtend. (I wash myself every morning.) Even when the reflexive verb itself lands at the end, the pronoun stays up front: Ik heb me vergist. (I was mistaken.)
2. A single object pronoun takes the same position. Ik zie hem morgen. (I'll see him tomorrow.) Ik heb het gisteren gekocht. (I bought it yesterday — the pronoun het before the time gisteren.)
3. When the verb comes first — in a question or after fronting something — the pronoun follows the subject. Heb je het gezien? (Did you see it?) Gisteren zag ik hem. (Yesterday I saw him.)

With both a direct object (the thing) and an indirect object (the receiver), the order depends on whether the direct object is a full noun or a pronoun.

So a pronoun direct object comes before the receiver: Ik heb het hem gegeven, not Ik heb hem het gegeven. Both pronouns still stay near the front, before a time word: Ik heb het hem gisteren gegeven.

• For the weak, unstressed forms (me, je, het, hem, ze) — the ones you say quickly without emphasis. These take the position directly after the finite verb.
• When you want to stress the pronoun, Dutch keeps the full form and can place it later, often with a preposition: Ik geef het boek aan hem, niet aan haar (I give the book to him, not to her).
• The direct object behaves differently once it is a full noun rather than a pronoun — a definite noun sits earlier, an indefinite one later.

English keeps the order give him it (receiver, then thing), and learners copy it into Dutch as Ik geef hem het. That is wrong when the thing is the pronoun het: the pronoun goes first, so it is Ik geef het hem. A second slip is parking the pronoun after a time word, as in Ik heb gisteren het gekocht — move the pronoun forward: Ik heb het gisteren gekocht.