Direct Object Pronoun or Indirect Object Pronoun?

Question

I was studying the following examples below about the indirect and direct object pronouns and I wanted to know why is the IO pronoun used in the first example and not the last two? Basically, how can you tell if a person is the DO or IO of a sentence?

Examples:

1) Tengo que agradecerle a él.

  (I have to thank him)

2) Si él no los conoce, ¿Cómo puede reconocerlos?

  (If he doesn't know you all, how can he recognize you all?)

3) La quiero.

  (I love her)

Answer 1

If the verb acts on the person, they are a direct object. If the person is the recipient of the action of the verb, they are an indirect object. This is the same as in English.

For the Spanish verb agradecer, the direct object is what you are thankful for and the indirect object is the person you are thanking. The direct object can be omitted, but the person is still the indirect object.

Nice explanation, but with some verbs hard to tell. As Jeremias says you can thank someone or give thanks to someone. - 0074b507, Dec 19, 2011

This makes alot of sense. Thanks. - syntonix, Dec 19, 2011

Can you think of an example with both the d.o. and i.o.p.? Does it involve por? Quiero agradecerle a María por las galletas. - 0074b507, Dec 19, 2011

Answer 2

You probably may want to go with this site: http://www.spanishdict.com/answers/100017/indirect-object-pronouns

And this:

http://www.spanishdict.com/answers/100014/direct-object-pronouns

Answer 3

So in the example "Encantado de conocerlo", the person we are speaking to is receiving the action of 'conocer'?

Answer 4

Can you think of an example with both the d.o. and i.o.p.? Does it involve por? Quiero agradecerle a María por las galletas.

When you use "por", the usage is intransitive: "las galletas" is the object of the preposition "por" and there is no direct object.

dudas

Quiero agradecerle las galletas a María.

Here in Ecuador, the intransitive version using por seems more common.

Answer 5

I have to give thanks to him. It's the indirect object in Spanish because it's not 'to thank him' (English direct object), but give thanks to him (indirect object).

odd that agradecer is a transitive verb. - 0074b507, Dec 19, 2011

Answer 6

So in the example "Encantado de conocerlo", the person we are speaking to is receiving the action of 'conocer'?

No. The verb "conocer" in this context translates to "to meet" in English and you are meeting them, not meeting something to them (whatever that means), so the person is the direct object of the verb. Hence the use of the direct object pronoun "lo".

Answer 7

better answers given

If the 1st example is a leísmo then it is because it is the only sentence where the direct object is a single (number) male

If it is not a leísmo, then it is because Spanish just tends to use the indirect object with certain verbs (especially the ones of communication) rather than the direct object pronouns.

You will commonly see llamarle (por teléfono) rather than llamarlo or llamarla.