¿en qué te puedo ayudar?
atender a una persona que entra a un comercio
6 Answers
¿Cuál es la pregunta?
I've never quite understood the use of IOPs with ¿En qué puedo ayudar? Isn't ayudar transitive, thus taking a DOP?
That "le" is not an indirect object, but the polite pronoun used to refer to "usted". Although the standard direct object pronouns are "lo/a, los, las", "les" is accepted under certain circumstances, and this is one of them. Is some countries, people prefer to say "lo ayudo", but this can refer to either "él" or "usted"; with "le", it is clear that it is "usted".
Nevertheless, "ayudar" used to be indirect in Latin, and it has been kept intransitive in certain areas for centuries, so it would be unfair to say that it is incorrect for those speakers. Yes, I know, it is a mess.
In English, it is certainly possible to ask "How can I help?" or "How can I be of help?" However, there is nothing unusual about asking How can I help you?" or "How can I be of help to you?" In Spanish the customary questions correspond to the latter two formulations in English.
This should be interesting.
I've never quite understood the use of IOPs with ¿En qué puedo ayudar? Isn't ayudar transitive, thus taking a DOP?
¿En qué te puedo ayudar?
While we wait for a question, "te puedo" is informal. I'd say "le".