I don't understand why there's an i.o.d in this sentence...

Question

Hello again!

I'm really grateful for all the help I'm getting here!! and... I'm back to ask another question.

In one of the videos, I saw this sentence "Siempre le pido papel de la profesora."

My problem is that I don't get why there is a 'le' in front of the verb.

I looked up the verb pedir and found out it means 'to request'. I'm curious whether 'de la profesora' can be the indirect object. it's 'from' the teacher... or should I translate as "I asked for paper of the teacher."?

¡Muchisimas gracias! (ps.Should I turn the 'g' into an upper case??)

'Papel' is the DO and the 'profesora' is the IDO... =) Le pido -- I ask her... (for what?) the paper DO. - NikkiLR, Apr 24, 2012

Answer 1

Nikki is absolutely right.

Another way to consider this type of sentence is that the personal pronoun is more important than the IDO. If the IDO has already been mentioned, you could simply say "Siempre le pido papel." But you cannot omit "le" even though you mention "a la profesora."

Great stuff! - camorra, Apr 24, 2012

Thank you all! But why would they say 'de la profesora' instead of 'a la profesora' like you did?? - espyeuja, Apr 24, 2012

Both are correct. "... de la profesora" (the prof´s paper) "a la profesora" (paper from her - not specifying whose paper) - 005faa61, Apr 24, 2012

Oh...I never thought about it that way,,, Thanks a million!!! :) - espyeuja, Apr 24, 2012