can you give give me a list of words that I have to use the redundant le or les in a sentence?

Question

Can you give give me a list of words that I have to use the redundant le or les in a sentence?

For example the word decir and dar : yo le deji a Maria que no. Or les di mi libro a paula y a juan

Answer 1

To my knowledge, "le" and "les" are only obligatory if you're placing the indirect object before the pronoun and verb.

A María le dije...

A los chicos les di...

If the indirect object is after the verb, it's not necessary to include the pronoun, but it's done very commonly.

Dije a María...

Di a los chicos...

Both are correct, but you're far more likely to hear them with "le" before them.

Le dije a María...

Les di a los chicos...

Note, however, that this only applies to indirect object pronouns. When dealing with direct object pronouns, my textbook says, as does my experience, that it's not very common to see phrases like:

El vestido lo lavé ayer.

La lata la boté.

A Marco lo pegó Juan.

Instead, you'd be likely to see:

Lavé el vestido ayer. // Lo lavé ayer.

La boté. // Boté la lata.

Juan lo pegó. // Juan pegó a Marco.

• that's very interesting Freeze, thanx for posting, I'm going to have to investigate this a bit more I've often wondered why people sometimes use le with decir and other times not. Do you have a reference work that I can bookmark with this info pls? - Kiwi_Girl Feb 13, 2012
• I always thought it was a case of whether decir was being used transitively or not (as both are possible) but I must admit I haven't yet taken the time to fully check it out. I'll have to put it on my list je je. - Kiwi_Girl Feb 13, 2012
• I don't believe that there's one on the new SpanishDict, but here's one from AllExperts: http://en.allexperts.com/q/Spanish-Language-1551/2008/6/use-le.htm ;-) - freeze10108 Feb 13, 2012
• sweet thanx :) - Kiwi_Girl Feb 13, 2012

Answer 2

As a general rule, you will almost always need to use the redundant LE or LES...not always, but almost always. If you are naming the indirect object, chances are pretty high you will need to also include the LE or LES.

It's more the way indirect objects work rather than how specific words work. Although, there may be a few words where using the redundant LE may not be done normally. I don't know any examples, though, not being a native.

Answer 3

You're kidding! All transitive verbs take a direct object. When a direct object is possible it is almost (to not be dogmatic) always possible to have an indirect object. Since the "indirect object" is somewhat broader in Spanish usage than in English, this is even truer in the case of Spanish.

• Could you please be more careful the way that you say things. In the past, your responses to my posts have caused me grief and embarrassment and I wonder if I am the only one. Please stop criticizing and belittling other people's answers. Thank you. - kdrinning Feb 13, 2012