when to use le/les and when not to....
I have been studying Spanish with Rosetta Stone and I have a question about one of their sentence constructions....In one of the lessons they say:
El arquitecto presenta su idea a sus clientes.
Yet in another lesson, they use the phrase:
Los alumnos le presentan su idea a su maestra.
Why is the "le" used in the second example and not the first?
4 Answers
Good catch, Greg.
If you are having a good time with Rosetta Stone, let me suggest that you'd have a REALLY good time if you gave us a try here. The forum is a wonderful source, both for getting your own questions answered and to see what others have on their minds. The flashcards are excellent, and you can make your own. Share them if you want, and keep them to yourself if you want. Excellent reference section. 60 free Spanish lessons. Skype chats. Members from all over the world who speak every type of regional Spanish you might need. A smart, all-around nice group of folks.
Hope you join us!!
Hi, Greg, welcome to the forum.
You ask an excellent question.
In my experience, it is more correct than not to have both the indirect object pronoun plus the indirect object noun. I would suggest that Rosetta Stone either dropped the ball on this one or was possibly showing different usages for different regions.
Every textbook I have taught from teaches using both the indirect object pronoun plus the indirect object noun, although I have heard native speakers omit the pronoun when they are using the noun.
It's a tough call in my opinion, and one that depends more on the preference of the speaker than anything else. I probably use the pronoun more often than I skip it, but I wouldn't bat an eyelash if I heard the first example.
I would have said that it should have been used in both. Le and les are the indirect object pronouns, and the rule I learned was that if there is an indirect object you have to use the indirect object pronoun. You're right that the two sentences are structurally identical.
