How to translate the following...

Question

K, am I translating the following correctly? Forget the punctuation..

You can't tell mother. No puedan le decir madre.

Why doesn't this work? Por que no funciona?

I like him. Me encanta

I will have more in the future lol.

Answer 1

Sorry, I can´t forget the punctuation; we´re not in some corner bar here.

1. No la pueden decir a mamá.

2. Correct except the forgotten punctuation ¿

3. Me gusta (Me encanta ... He enchants me)

My hero! Three cheers for punctuation! :) - cristalino, Apr 3, 2011

Thank youuuu! Can you explain the first one? Why did you put 'la' in front of pueden? I don't understand the grammar fo it overall. - AllisonMyeisha, Apr 4, 2011

Allison, in this case there is no direct object - only an indirect object, "mamá." The personal pronoun connects the action to it and is necessary. "a mamá is a participle that can be included or omitted - 005faa61, Apr 4, 2011

A more usual way to say this would be "No se lo digas a mamá." "se" .... mamá. "lo" the thing being said (imperative case with direct and indirect object pronouns) - 005faa61, Apr 4, 2011