io pronoun plus io always needed ?

Question

Guys

This should be simple but after talking to my co-worker who is from Barcelona I'm confused again.

I thought that with IOP you could :

1. Add an IO to clarify an unclear IOP such as "le"

BUT

1. Cannot leave the IOP out even though you do have an IO in the sentence already.

EXAMPLE:

I write a letter to my mum.

EVERY book I've seen says:

Le escribo una carta a mi mamá.

I'm sure it's been argued 100 times that you shouldn't need an IOP on top of the IO but I had accepted that that's just how it is with Spanish IO. However, my buddy from Spain says : "While this is not wrong I'd never ever say that. I'd just say : Escribo una carta a mi mamá" Of course this would make sense to me since I don't know why you'd need the redundancy of an IOP when the IO is actually in the sentence since pronouns should replace objects. Then why do I see this everywhere when a native speaker insists its not needed ?

My assumption is that if you wanna be proper you better say it but if not it's totally acceptable ? I don't wanna sound "ghetto". Would leaving it out be kinda like the English "We was driving" ? My buddy says no way it wouldn't sound ghetto.

Is it fair to assume that every sentence that involves an IO must also have the appropriate IOP included ? This redundancy does not apply to DOP's as far as I can tell. Can anyone clarify please ?

thanks

Answer 1

So it's just like I thought then huh ? Can someone clarify why other questions ? Is it true then I can never have an stand-alone IO in any sentence ? It must be accompanied by the IOP.

Also can you confirm that this is specific to IOP only. I wouldn't say :

I see John

Lo veo a Juan.

Right ??

Answer 2

I understand the frustration you express in the question. My own view as a learner is that your friend from Barcelona is probably right in terms of spoken everyday spanish, but there is a pedagogical principle that I think outweighs that, ie. it is not good to jump straight to missing things out. You have to know the correct grammatical procedure before you can start speaking colloquially, otherwise you really never know where you are. For example, if you followed your friend's advice you would be good at speaking but would have trouble with written spanish, no?

Answer 3

You can say it either way. I think the grammatically correct way is how you thought it originally. Even though people in spanish speaking countries say that it is not needed, it is better to have it. They know just about as much as we do about English...which is nothing. They just speak what sounds right to them as we just speak what sounds right to us in English. I was down in Chile for a couple of years and I saw a lot of this. I would go ahead and continue structuring your sentences how you have been doing it