Direct-Indirect Object Pronouns in the news
I found this story with a pair of pronouns and had a question about it.
*Chris Mortensen, analista de ESPN, habló por teléfono con el padre de Manning, Archie, y envió el siguiente mensaje en Twitter: "Archie Manning se rió cuando escuchó que @RobLowe dijo que Peyton Manning se retiraría. 'Noooo que no se retire. Si así fuera, pienso que me lo habría dicho'." *
The question is about this sentence. Si así fuera, pienso que me lo habría dicho.
My translation. If so, I think that he would have told me.
My assumption is that me is the indirect object pronoun and lo is the direct object pronoun. What I am not sure of is the lo part. Is it referring to he or it as in told it to me? The reason I ask is that the verb should define the he and preclude the need for lo. My understanding is that direct object pronouns are not required so why repeat what is being communicated by the verb part of speech?
Or am I just overanalyzing?
1 Answer
"lo" is "it". Translated literally,
que me lo habría dicho.
that he would have told me it.
or more naturally,
that he would have told it to me.
In English, we're often sloppy about adding a direct object pronoun. By adding it here, it ensures we express the transitive meaning of decir.
