Redundant "Les"

Question

In the example for today's 'word of the day:']Les voy a pedir a mis padres que me presten su coche. Why does the sentence start with "Les" when, without it, the sentence seems to be saying the same thing? The "les" can only refer to "mis padres" which is identified in the sentence without the need for "les"? Or so it seems to a beginning Spanish student.

Answer 1

It is not a redundant "les", but an anticipatory "le". Same thing happens in English with "it", which appears totally redundant to Spanish people, but serves a function:

I like it when you are happy

In Spanish we'd never put that "it", because that "it" means "when you are happy", so why saying it twice? Well... I won't go into deep linguistics here, but there is a reason, and you won't need it to speak either language correctly, so don't get troubled about it.

P.D. In some sentences the meaning can even change if you include (or omit) that "les", so it is not redundant.

Answer 2

You are right, the sentence means the same thing without "les", and in common use (in Spain) we usually say it without "les", but as a student it's probably the right thing to do to learn the proper use of the pronouns before moving to the "relaxed" way of doing things. If you were talking about the parents in the previous sentence what would go away would be "a mis padres" instead of "les", to make it shorter.