Pronouns with infinitives and present participles

I'm pretty confused about the placement of pronouns with infinitves and present participles.  It says it is optional to either put it before the verb or attach it to the end of the  infinitve or present participle, but in the exercises at the end of the lesson, it considers me “wrong” if I don't do it as they do.  Am I missing something?  Are there times when tacking it onto the end isn't allowed?  If not, why not have both structures on the flash cards and allow both answers in the speaking and writing sections?  As it is, I feel unsure about whether I have misunderstood the lesson.  Can anyone shed light on this?  

(And, if any one who works for Rocket reads these, and it turns out both ways are correct, would you please change the exercises to reflecft that?  Thanks.

¡Hola Jim-e6bk!

¡Gracias por tu pregunta!

To clarify, you are correct, you can attach both direct and indirect object pronouns to the end of infinitive verbs and present participles. For example, in the sentence Quiero hacerlo, “(I) want to do it,” the direct object pronoun is attached to the infinitive verb hacer “to do.” Similarly, in the sentence Estoy cocinándola, “(I) am cooking it,” the direct object pronoun is attached to the present participle cocinando. In regard to these two sentences, it would also be correct to say Lo quiero hacer “(I) want to do it” and La estoy cocinando “(I) am cooking it.”

As for the activities in the lesson, when the pronoun attaches to the end of the infinitive or present participle, this is indicated by the small grey and white button on the top right of the flashcard which says Lit. This stands for literal translation and will give an indication of the pronoun's position. For example, if the sentence is Quiero hacerlo “(I) want to do it,” the Lit. button will show to do+it. I’m sorry that this was not made clearer in the course; I have passed your feedback to the product development team to consider when they update the course. 

I hope this helps answer your question!

¡Hasta luego!

Indy

I think we all understand the frustration. I know I had it early on when learning pronounds. They are hard! What I did was move on and I have gradually become better through exposure, vs trying to get it perfect before moving on.

Regarding the correction issue, I agree it is frustrating, but Spanish is very flexible in many ways, so it would be impossible to accept every possible correct answer. Frustrating, but unfortunately at this point in coding, not realistically going to happen. Maybe AI will take us to the next level at some point, but it is going to take a while.

Good luck in your learning!

I've been doing the intermediate lessons form s year and only discovered  the useful information revealed when you click on the "Lit." Button in the last month.  It's good to know it gives you the desired placement of the pronoun used with the infinitive or present participle. 

Excellent point Gayle. And it often will give you want particular word (when more than one is reasonable) they are looking for. At first I felt like it was cheating, but now I try not to use it, but if I am not sure of the answer, I will take a peek at the “Lit” button as well.