I dont understand when we use "le" ?

Question

Hello, I tried to figure some new sentences in spanish but i couldnt understand the use of the word "le" in some sentences. for example:

• El les escribe un correo de electronico a sus amigas

• • La muchacha les lee el libro a las ninas
• • Ella le vende un cuaderno al hombre-

In all those sentences i think i could write them even without the "le". The main thing that i cant understand is - to whom it's referes? becuase i read that the word "le"means - "him, her, to him...."

Thank you!

Answer 1

El les escribe un correo de electronico a sus amigas

Let's look at the verb first, "escribe" which means "he is writing." Obviously, this sentence can be fleshed out a bit by answering a couple of basic questions.

?First, What is he writing? The answer to this is "un correo (de) electrónico/an e-mail." This bit of information represents the direct object and describes what entity is directly effected by the action (i.e. the entity which receives the action of the verb or shows the result of the action).

?The next question to answer is, "To whom or for whom is this action directed?" (i.e. the indirect object of your sentence) The answer, of course is "a sus amigas/to his (girl)friends."

The pronoun "les" in this sentence is what is called the indirect object pronoun (follow the link for more information). In Spanish, it is not uncommon to see an indirect object pronoun (les/to them) appear in the same sentence as its referent (a sus amigas/to his friends).

There are a couple of rules which govern this usage.

1). When the referent appears in front of the verb, then it is obligatory that the indirect object pronoun appear as well:

?A sus amigas les escribe un correo electrónico

2). When the referent appears after the verb, then it is optional that the indirect object pronoun appear as well; however, it is much more common that the pronoun be included:

?*(Les) escribe un correo electrónico A sus amigas *

With that explained, it might be possible to see that in your next two sentences, the indirect object pronoun is normally optional (albeit much more commonly employed).

La muchacha (les) lee el libro a las niñas ? The girl reads the book to the children

Notice that if it is already known that we are talking about the children, it might be possible to restate the sentence in both English and Spanish, using only the indirect object pronoun:

?La muchacha les lee el libro ? The girl reads the book to them

Ella le vende un cuaderno al hombre-

Without going into much detail, from the previous discussions, hopefully it is clear now that the indirect object pronoun (le/to him) is simply a restatement of its referent (al hombre/to the man) that appears in the same sentence.

What is a named i.o.? is a pronoun a named i.o.? Ella me dio el libro a mí. Is a mí a named i.o.? Nothing optional about the i.o.p. here. - 0074b507, Apr 30, 2011

By "named indirect object pronoun," I am trying (perhaps awkwardly) to describe the "referent" of the sentence in the examples above. I - Izanoni1, Apr 30, 2011

Edited to avoid such confusion - Izanoni1, Apr 30, 2011

In any case you are correct in that when a tonic pronoun occurs after the verb, the atonic pronoun is obligatory - Izanoni1, Apr 30, 2011

Answer 2

When I learned it les or le when used like that refers to the secondary subject as the ones reflecting on the verb. "El les escribe" can be shortened to mean. "He wrote to them". and the "a sus amigas" simply is clarifying to whom he wrote. You can have a sentence that says "Ella le vende" and not need to know to whom the subject is directly referencing the action to.

Hopefully this helped!

the indirect subjects to whom the actions are referring to are often seen as me, te, le, and les - ayamevida, Apr 30, 2011

On the whole, a very nice explanation (although, I am not sure that I would agree with the statement "refers to the secondary subject as the ones reflecting on the verb") - Izanoni1, Apr 30, 2011

Answer 3

What I don't get is why we have to use "le" when saying things like "Corrale" o "Andale"

The "le"in these expressions does not represent an indirect object and not required, but added just for emphasis. We can say simply "¡Corre!" "¡Anda!" (imperativo Tú) - 005faa61, Jan 14, 2017