When to use me, le, and les
I am having a lot of trouble with object pronouns. The ones I am having a lot of trouble are me, les, and le.
In my Spanish textbook, it says that le and les refer to the person/people talking. Such as ella le, ustedes les, etc.
But it also says that le and les are indirect object pronouns so they refer to them. Then the sentences can be El doctor les da una receta a sus pacientes. But in that case, "el doctor" is singular and "les" is plural.
Also, "el doctor me examina" is stated. Does the "me" here mean "my throat"?
I am in a huge dilemma.
3 Answers
1st person refers to the person talking. I.... or We.... is the person speaking.
2nd person refers to the person being spoken to: you in English
3rd person refers to anyone else or the person/thing being spoken about...he, him, her/it, them
The confusing thing about Spanish is that the formal you (usted/ustedes), though 2nd person, grammatically acts as if it were 3rd person. So usted uses 3rd person pronouns, le, lo, la pronouns rather than 2nd person pronouns te or os.
El doctor les da una receta a sus pacientes.
You are confusing your subject pronouns with your object pronouns.
The i.o.p. les refers to a sus pacientes. It has nothing to do with the subject El doctor.
The plural form les (them) is used because his patients is plural.
El doctor les da una receta a sus pacientes. Les is plural because of pacientes. He/she is giving more than one pacient a prescription.
- El doctor me examina. me refers that is examining me. This has nothing to do with what part of the body is being examined.
Also, "el doctor me examina" is stated. Does the "me" here mean "my throat"?
Did you perhaps mean to write: "El doctor me examina la garganta?"
If so, your sentence would translate to "The doctor examines my throat" and would break down as follows:
| Subject: | El doctor/The doctor | describes the one who performs the action, i.e. the one who does the examining |
| Verb: | examina/(he/the doctor) examines | describes the action being performed |
| Direct object | la garganta/the throat | describes what receives the action of the verb, i.e what is being examined–the throat |
| Indirect object pronoun | me | Answers the question, "to whom," or rather, "on whose throat" is the examination conducted, i.e. the examination is done to my throat |
By the way, I wonder if these examples were taken from the same book: Object pronoun questions
