¿Puedo ganarle?

Question

Why would this be le and not lo? It should be saying "Can I beat him?" but it seems like "him" is the direct object and that there is no indirect object in this short sentence. "¿Puedo ganarlo?" "¿Puedo ganarle? It seems that the first should be right and not the second. I wonder why the second is the right one.

Good question jeezzle ;) - Zizoun, MAR 14, 2010

Answer 1

Pfff This question is even going to help me xD I'm not the best to answer this... I'm from Madrid and we comit the error too often of "Loísmo and Leísmo".

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That being said I give you my version. If you say ¿Puedo ganarlo? you are refering to him and is accepted by the RAE as leísmo but not gramatically correct.

If you say ¿Puedo ganarle? is the most correct way.

Spanish translation: La RAE considera correcto únicamente el leísmo de "le" por "lo" referido a personas masculinas y sólo en singular.

"¿Cuándo ves a José? / ¿Cuándo lo ves?

Lo veo esta noche"

is more correct

"¿Cuándo ves a José? / ¿Cuándo le ves?

Le veo esta noche"

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From your sentence is the same,

¿Puedo ganarle? is like saying "puedo ganar a el"

¿Puedo ganarlo? is like saying "puedo ganar a eso"

You have to consider that for me this is hard, but hope it helps

I don't think that you are the only one that finds this hard. - 0074b507, MAR 14, 2010

I will do more research on this. Thanks for your help. - jeezzle, MAR 14, 2010

True, but other people around Spain, and especially Latin Americans, use it much better than us :P Like in other aspects we use it better than them. - Zizoun, MAR 14, 2010

Answer 2

Why would this be le and not lo? It should be saying "Can I beat him?" but it seems like "him" is the direct object and that there is no indirect object in this short sentence. "¿Puedo ganarlo?" "¿Puedo ganarle? It seems that the first should be right and not the second. I wonder why the second is the right one.

Puedo - from the verb "poder" (to can)

Puedo = I can

Ganar = to beat

him= we use the extension "le"

"Puedo ganarlo" = "Can I win it"

Can I beat him = Puedo ganar-le

Answer 3

If you say ¿Puedo ganarle? is the most correct way.

Actually it is not

Isma is right,

puedo ganarlo is the most correct way to say this, direct object, should be lo not le.

Spanish leísmo is famous, specially in Madrid

le is accepted her, it is called: le de cortesía.

Answer 4

Ok just some more research here. There seems to be a direct split on google between "Voy a llevarla" and "Voy a llevarle". "Voy a llevarla a mi novia" or "Voy a llevarle a mi novia". I would choose "lleverla" but despite reading about leismo and etc... I still don't see a correlation. When I think of "le" I'm thinking two things. 1 indirect object. 2. TO him/her. (or sometimes FOR with comprar etc...). When I think of "la" I'm thinking two things 1. Direct object. 2. Him/her with no to involved.

It blows my mind to think that there is some kind of switch up going on. Whenever I ask my mom about this kind of stuff she says she mostly just uses "le" to refer to him or her. I pick her up, I take her. I don't take TO her. I'm going to take her home. Voy a llevarla a casa. Voy a comprarle algo a mi madre. I'm going to buy something for(to) my mom. Puedo ganarlo. I can beat him. Puedo ganarle. I can beat to him. I don't get it.

Teachers are the best ones to clear this out, since we have few in spanishdict, I hope they pop up :P Because you are right in few things, but common sense and language sometimes dont go by hand xD - Zizoun, MAR 14, 2010