Hola! Le puedo ayudar en algo?

Question

Hola! Le puedo ayudar en algo?

I'm struggling to understand the pronouns used in this sentence. What I'm certain of is that direct object pronouns directly take the action of a verb, so shouldn't it therefore be "lo puedo ayudar en algo?"

Answer 1

If you want to ask the following question:

Can I buy you a gift? - Even though it says, "Can I buy you", you are not buying the person that you are talking to, you are buying the gift:

¿Le puedo comprar un regalo? -or- ¿Puedo comprarle un regalo?

This can be re-written in English as: Can I buy a gift for you?

Regalo = direct object (what is being bought)

Le = indirect object pronoun (for whom it is being bought)

Your sentence is harder to wrap your mind around... and I think since you are not actually helping the person do something (as in taking their hands and doing something for them), but you are helping that person with "something":

¿Le puedo ayudar en algo? - or - ¿Puedo ayudarle en algo?

I hope this makes sense...

Think "Can I be of help to you ..." - samdie, Oct 7, 2011

Answer 2

link text

In the above linked thread, please see the answers by lazarus that include:

What I am saying is that languages change over time, and "ayudar" used to be TOTALLY intransitive, but eventually changed in many regions because all other similar verbs were transitive. From a modern point of view, its behaviour should be logically classified as transitive, but historically it used to be intransitive, so you can't just send to jail all those millions of native speakers who keep their historical roots alive. The reason why so many speakers in so many places still say "le" instead of the logical "lo/la" is because of their cultural heritage. I am not arguing on either side -just pointing out that maybe in time "ayudar" will be mainly transitive, but for the moment too many speakers resist it for no particular reason, even though logically they should.

If you have over 50 million natives -including many educated speakers and prestigious writers- saying "le ayudo", what would you do if you were to write a grammar? It is wrong even though people who write better than me use it? Ideally, use it as a transitive, but only time will tell whether is use with "le" remains alive or not.

Or to summarize, lo/la is correct, and le is commonly used instead, and that is the way it is. - Stadt, Oct 7, 2011

Answer 3

Hola!

Le puedo ayudar en algo? = can l help you in anything?

This is an indirect object pronoun

Indirect objects are the lucky noun phrases that receive the direct objects in a sentence. Just like direct object pronouns replace direct objects, indirect object pronouns are the replacements for indirect objects, which are always personal nouns.