Indirect objects and direct object help.

Question

Tienes que contarles chistes. ? Les tienes que contar chistes _____ . A todas las chicas o a Meriela y a Diana?

I'm not sure how to know the difference between all the women, and just 2 from the question?

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¿Lo hiciste tú o lo hizo Aguayo? ? ¿Hiciste tú _____ o lo hizo Aguayo?

La taza o el café?

I believe it is el cafe, no?

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No, pero me lo estoy imaginando. ? No, pero me estoy imaginando ______ .

Lo que es vivir solo o lavar los platos?

I believe it is vivir solo, no?

Answer 1

The second one is easy, it's "el café", because "lo" is a masculine direct object pronoun, and "la taza" is feminine. And the third is easy as well if the choices are "lo que es vivir solo" and "lavar los platos", since "lavar los platos" isn't a fitting direct object for "estoy imaginando".

However the first is pretty weird.. Unless I'm particularly thick today, "les" can refer to "a todas las chicas" or "a Meriela y a Diana", so there's nothing to tell which one is it (I'm guessing it's one of these contrived reasonings that teachers pull off once in a while).

edit: on second thought, I'd say "les tienes que contar.." if I were just talking about two persons, and "tienes que contar" if I were talking about many, so my guess is that the correct answer is "a Meriela y a Diana".

Answer 2

The answer came to be A todas las chicas.

Tienes que contarles chistes. ? Les tienes que contar chistes A todas las chicas .

Do you know what type of sentences these are so I can study them further, they seem confusing to me.

Thankyou!

Oh, and why? Have someone explained this to you? And have you understand it? - cogumela, Oct 13, 2010

No, I missed the question and did not get points for it. I don't know the name of these types of questions so i can look them up? - rcmango, Oct 14, 2010

Answer 3

Slap! Billsport, I had the same thought as you.

In my second attempt about the first one, I think that "a todas las chicas" is wrong. But... It is quite confusing!!

Because it would be "Le tienes que contar a todas las chicas" but I think that also "tienes que contarles" is correct, isn't?

I don't know. If it were "a todo el mundo" I could understand that you changed "les" to "le", but "todas las chicas" is still plural. To me, it just seems redundant to add "les" if you say "a todas las chicas", but I'm on the fence on this one. - bill1111, Oct 13, 2010

"Tienes que contarles chistes a todas las chicas" is equivalent to "les tienes que contar", but still sounds better imho. - bill1111, Oct 13, 2010