Le gusta contarme chistes a mí... ?

Question

Este es un ejercicio en el libro de texto "Expresate" para español, nivel dos. Es para enseñar pronombres de objetos indirectos, pero no creo que sea correcto.

"Le gusta (a.. el/ella/ud)" ya tiene el pronombre de objeto indirecto porque literalmente significa "is pleasing to..." Alguien me puede ayudar? Gracias

es posible que tenga dos objetos indirectos? - sullivanbcsc, Nov 22, 2011

Esprésate - 0074b507, Nov 22, 2011

¡Exprésate! es correcto - sullivanbcsc, Nov 22, 2011

Yes but you have missed the tilde over the "e" in your post. - kenwilliams, Nov 22, 2011

I knew something about that didn't seem right. Thanks for correcting the correction. - 0074b507, Nov 22, 2011

Answer 1

Occam's Razor says that the simplest answer is usually the correct one (or don't over-think it, stupid)

So I would think that this sentence says:

She/he likes telling jokes to me. (and not to others)

es posible que tenga dos objetos indirectos?

Were you considering: He/she likes my telling jokes to myself? That was my first thought, but then I thought that this would better be said with a noun clause, something like...Le gusta que yo me cuente chistes a mí mismo.

It could have been worse. The sentence might have been written with a clarifier for the le.

A ella le gusta contarme chistes a mí.

Answer 2

Were you considering: He/she likes my telling jokes to myself?

No, I understand the sentence to read: "he likes telling me jokes." However, my question is with the correct grammar usage of two indirect objects within one clause. Although we do not phrase "me gusta" with "it is pleasing to me" in English, it does literally tranlate to this and requires the use of an indrect object. "contarme chistes" is acting as the subject... as what "is pleasing to him" (or what he likes).

A ella le gusta contarme chistes a mí.

This makes perfect sense. I just wasn't aware that two indirect objects pronouns in one clause was okay. Perhaps a native speaker would choose to use the indirect object "ella" for "le" rather than "me" for "mí" since that's rather redundant anyway...

The a mí is not redundant. It changes the meaning (slightly) of contarme. Without the a mí it means He likes telling jokes to me. With the a mí for emphasis it means he likes telling me jokes (excluding others, or especially to me, rather than to - 0074b507, Nov 22, 2011

others. It is a method of exclusion or inclusion. - 0074b507, Nov 22, 2011

Answer 3

I think that the translation "to be pleasing to someone" is rather confusing because nobody says that in regular English. "a él le gusta..." means "he likes...", and the use of [a él, a ella, a usted, etc] is to avoid confusion between the nouns as all of them use "le gusta". As for the use of "a mí" or "a nosotros" is mostly for emphasys. I hope this helps.