Why do you need "le/les" here?

Question

• Ella le saca una foto a la estatua.
• Él les sacó una foto a sus amigos

1. Why do some verbs require "le/les" in front of them like "saca/sacó" above?
2. I guess "le" in the first sentence points to "la estatua"? If so, shouldn't it be "la"?
3. How do you determine whether a verb needs a pronoun such as le/les in front of it? Do you just have to memorize them or is there some logic behind it?

Thank you for your help.

Hello Bluesky, welcome to the forum! - rac1, Aug 22, 2012

Great question bluesky! - 0095ca4c, Aug 22, 2012

Answer 1

Search redundant indirect object.

Basically if you are using an indirect object after a verb, you must mark it with a pronoun before the verb. You do not do this for direct objects (meaning you use a pronoun before, or a noun after, but not both). So you need to know whether the object of the verb is direct or indirect. In this case you are taking a photo, so photo is the direct object- the statue or your friends are what you are taking them OF so that makes them the indirect objects.

This probably simplifies things a little (for instance you can use an indirect object noun and pronoun both before the verb, sometimes the pronouns are tacked on the end of the verb, etc.), but it should be a reasonable starting point.

thank you SO much duendecillo! Now I think I have it. I was mistakenly thinking that the pronoun referred to the direct object. What a dunce I am, no wonder I was confused. thanks again for making it so clear. - 0095ca4c, Aug 22, 2012

Answer 2

The diirect or indirect object----noun (la estatua and sus amogos)allways has to be accompanied by a personal pronoun,accusative / dative,singular / plural, the unstressed form,lo,la,le,los,las,les.There are very little exceptions too.That's a characteristic of the Latin languages

I give my friend a book = (le) doy un libro a mi amigo

I saw your girlfriend = (la) vi a tu amiga

El complemento directo u indirecto---sustantivo siempre (la estatua and sus amigos) tiene que ser acompañado por un pronombre personal, acusativo / dativo, singular / plural, la forma átona, lo,la,le,los,las,les.. Hay muy pocas excepciones también.Es una característica de las lenguajes latinas

I give my friend a book = (le) doy un libro a mi amigo

I saw your girlfriend = (la) vi a tu amiga

Thank you also aylino! I'm understanding the concept a lot better now. :-) - 0095ca4c, Aug 22, 2012

Answer 3

Thank you everyone - what a generous and knowledgeable group of people!!! It's so comforting to know that I would get some great help here if/when I get really lost and confused with my study in Spanish.

If I may, can I ask another somewhat related question? Can I say: "Ella saca una foto de la estatua." instead of: "Ella le saca una foto a la estatua." ?

Thank you.

Hola bluesky, I'm just a beginner, but if I understand duendecillo's post correctly, I don't believe you can leave out 'le' because there is an indirect object (estatua) after the verb (saca). - 0095ca4c, Aug 23, 2012

Answer 4

HELLO i am spanish and i saw this. i think is funny because i am from madrid and we have a problem there called leismo and is that we don't know to difference that so we use to say la/lo instead le a lot of times. :D

Yes, well, I have the same problem. - Lise-Laroche, Aug 22, 2012

Answer 5

Have you checked in our Spanish grammar section? Here is the link, You will find a lot of great information there.