el que me lo compró

Question

SD translates this as "the one who bought it from me."

I understand that "lo" is a DO pronoun, but I don't understand how to get "from me" out of this. How do we get "from" out of this? Help please??

Answer 1

Él que me lo compró.

This is a sentence with one verb (comprar) in the 3rd person singular past tense.
The subject is "Él que" = He that
The indirect object is "me" = from me or for me
The direct object is "lo" = it

So the literal translation is "He that bought it from/for me." Without object pronouns, a phrase with comprar looks like:

comprar algo a alguien

The direct object is algo (the thing being bought) and the indirect object is alguien (the person from whom the thing was bought or for whom the thing was bought.) Spanish uses the same sentence for both meanings of the indirect object. The speaker can choose to use a different structure, using the object of a preposition instead of an indirect object, if they feel the need to be more clear.

Very good explanation! Thank you! - Paralyse, Dec 27, 2011

Answer 2

"él que me lo compró." -> He from me it bought. -> "He bought it from me."

Would I be correct in stating that in this sense "que" replaces "de" to mean "from?" Or is that implied by the "me" in "me lo compró?"

@Jeezzle, perhaps the sense you refer to could be translated as:

"Lo compró para mí." -- "It was bought for me.", or:

"él compró un regalo para mí." --"He bought a gift for me."

Corrections and advice would be much appreciated.

Answer 3

El que me lo compró = The one who bought it from me

When you say "me lo compro" that's when you know it was bought from you. "Me" is -from me-, even though it's not a literal translation that's what "me" represents.

• Se lo compre = I bought it from him/her

• Se los compre = I bought it from them-

As you see it's not literal but you get it by "se lo" "se los" "me los...."

I hope this helps a little! It's hard to explain -

I think what he wants to know, that isn't explained here, is why it isn't "He bought it FOR me" and not "from me". - jeezzle, Dec 25, 2011

Oh, sorry. Then that is up to you as the listener, it's like in english when you say "a friend" you don't know if it's a guy or a girl... Same here. - rpem, Dec 25, 2011