Spanish Grammar: Le or Lo?

Question

I'm studying Spanish.
I was wondering, is it possible to use Lo in spanish when referring to 'him' and not 'it'?
E.g.
Lo ataqué
instead of
Le ataqué (a él)

or 

Lo ayudo
instead of 
Le ayudo (a él)

Or is Lo simply for masculine 'nouns' and not people?

A detailed response would be very helpful :)

Thanks for reading xx

GrahamH · Accepted Answer

Caulk2005 has come nearest, but he is not entirely right.

"le" is the ONLY correct form to refer to male humans in Iberian Spanish |(i.e. in Spain); elsewhere, "lo" is the correct form.

Anonymous · Answer

Yeah. Lo ataque ( I attacked him)

Lo ayudo - is more like you saying that you will help an indivudual
Le ayudo - is more like you are talking directly with that person who you are offering to help

Lo is mostly for masculine nouns, but there are some cases that could work for either. Every country/region is different but where I'm from you are doing just fine.

caulk2005 · Answer

Lo ataquÃ©, lo ayudo are correct, because it's the Direct Object.

Le is for the Indirect Object, and is wrong for the Direct Object (leÃ­smo), but is frequent in Spain.

Anonymous · Answer

You can definitely do that.

I love him. Lo amo.
I hate him. Lo odio.

You're using "le" wrong though. When you use le, it's a reflexive pronoun, so you can't just use it to describe what you're doing. For example, you can't say "Le ataquÃ© a Ã©l." You use "le" when you're talking in the present about doing something.

Le ayudo? Can I help you?

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Spanish Grammar: Le or Lo?

4 Answers