Grrrrrrr. on Indirect Object Pronouns!

Question

Hi again.

Could someone please explain why this sentence has the IDO pronoun "le" in it?

"No te creo que Victor le rompió la nariz a su amigo, porque él nunca se mete con nadie." (I don't believe you that Victor broke his friend's nose, because he never gets in it with anyone).

I'm totally stumped!

Thanks!

=^.^=

Would the Direct Object be "nose" and the Indirect Object be "friend"? - crabbycat, Jan 7, 2012

Good question! I'm with you CrabbyCat. I just can't seem to get my mind wrapped around all these different usages of I.D.O. pronouns! - ajaks, Jan 7, 2012

Answer 1

Romper is acting directly on la nariz (broke what? the nose) and indirectly on su amigo (of whom? his friend).

Thanks. I always thought the indirect object always answered "to whom" or "for whom", but it can be "of whom" too? - crabbycat, Jan 7, 2012

Answer 2

I think you are confused because the English sentence doesn't have an indirect object, while in Spanish the person affected by the action of the verb can be added as an indirect object rather than being indicated by a possessive.

Answer 3

After reading more about Spanish grammar, I think it is actually a "dativo simpatético", which is distinct from an indirect object even though it is syntactically the same.

There you go! - samdie, Jan 18, 2012