Atropellar, por not needed for by?

Question

Le atropelló un coche -> he was knocked down or run over by a car

So you don't need por? Gracias. Why is it not lo? It's direct right? (from our dictionary)

Answer 1

Because "run over by" is a passive construction, with "the car run him over" being the active one. The Spanish one is active too. It literally says "him run over a car". The passive one would be "Fue atropellado por un coche", and there you'd get the "por" you were missing.

Ah, "le atropelló" is leísmo.

Answer 2

Por is not needed because it is the subject, not an object. Putting the subject at the end of this sentence puts the emphasis on someone being runover rather than on the car.

spanish word order

Answer 3

Why is it not lo?

This is where "leísimo" comes in handy. Both Le and Lo are acceptable, but it´s more smoother flowing to say "le atropelló" rather than "lo atropelló."

I think that's regional. To me, using "le" is odd. In Argentina you would sound like a foreigner. - 00e657d4, May 2, 2011