La vs. le - a question!

Question

Okay the question is: ¿Sigues visitando a tu abuela? = Do you keep visiting your grandma?

Would I respond:

Ya no la sigo visitando.

or

Ya no le sigo visitando.

I'm thinking that abuela is the "direct object" so that I would need to use "la" as the direct object pronoun.

Answer 1

Your reasoning is correct, use la as it is an i.o., but be cautioned that in many English sentences what would easily be recognized as a direct object is treated as an indirect object in Spanish sentences. This is especially true of certain verbs like llamar when used as to call by phone.

Voy a llamarle. Voy a llamarlo.

Just to mention it, the pronoun can be attached to the gerund also.

Ya no la sigo visitando.

Ya no sigo visitándola.

Notice that in your original question: ¿Sigues visitando a tu abuela? that the personal "a" is used. That tells you that "abuela" is a direct object since the personal "a" is used when the d.o. is a person or pet. That is different than the preposition phrase used to clarify pronouns.

Voy a darle el libro a él.

Here, the a él clarifies the le and has nothing to do with the i.o. (libro) and is not the perrsonal ""a".

Wow that is an awesome explanation. One quick question: So you could say both: "Voy a llamarle" and "Voy a llamarlo?" Both are correct? - thaibean06, MAR 13, 2010