Repetition of direct pronoun

Question

The use of repeated pronouns like in  "la música la hemos usado ..." always confuses me.  Is the extra 'la' here because the object is at the start of the clause, so it would translate literally as: "music, we have always used it ..."?

Accepted Answer

Hola James
Yes, if you start the sentence with the object first, then you need the pronoun:
"la música la hemos usado ..." (=Hemos usado la música...)
Other examples could be:

El café lo tomo con azúcar.
I take sugar with my coffee. (= Coffee, I take it with sugar.)
Las toallas las ponemos encima de la cama.
We put the towels on the bed. (=The towels, we put them on the bed.)

I hope this clarified it.
Saludos
Inma