¿Por qué me ha comprado uno a mí?

Question

The "a mí" throws me. I guess it wants to say "Why did he buy one for me?" Sort of like "Why buy me one, why for me.?" But what if he said "Por qué me ha comprado uno" or "Por qué me ha comprado uno de ellos" or "Por qué me ha comprado uno para mí" or "Por qué a mí me ha comprado uno" or "Por qué para mí me ha compardo uno de ellos". Are they all right or are some wrong? Is para wrong there? What is the real reason for "a mí" when it seems like "para mí" is that answer there? Gracias.

The best option from all them is "a mí".... para is not wrong, but doesn´t fit well... - veroz, Jan 2, 2011

Answer 1

My understanding is...

¿Por qué me ha comprado uno? = Why did he buy me one?

¿Por qué me ha comprado uno a mí? = Why did he buy me one?

Me being an IO is required in either case and a mí serves to emphasize in this case. In the case where le is the IO pronoun, adding a + name could serve to emphasize or clarify le.

That's my understanding, at least.

¿Por qué ha comprado uno para mí? (without me) could work, too, I imagine.

I agree with the example sentences: there is a contrast "me vs. everyone else" which emphasizes that "me". - lazarus1907, Jan 2, 2011

Answer 2

¿Por qué ha comprado uno para mí? (without me) could work, too, I imagine.

Read section 5:

RAE

Are you saying it loses the contrastive nature? - webdunce, Jan 2, 2011

I'm saying that the indirect object in that sentence is a pronoun. - lorenzo9, Jan 2, 2011

To me it has a clear contrastive function: "Why me and not anyone else?" - lazarus1907, Jan 2, 2011

So far as I know, the sentence you quote has no grammatical indirect object. - webdunce, Jan 2, 2011

In Spanish, the object of a preposition is an indirect object even though it is usually an adverbial phrase in English. In this case uno is the direct object and mí is the indirect object. - lorenzo9, Jan 2, 2011