Pronoun lo/le

Question

A lesson from Rosetta Stone has the following: "No le entiendí. ¿Puede repetirlo por favor?" I think this means "I didn't understand that, can you please repeat it?" I get the "lo" attached to "repetir", it's a direct object, but why use "le " (indirect object, or direct object that's a person) instead of "lo" in the first sentence? In fact, out of context, I would have translated that as "I didn't understand him/her."

So you're saying the first sentence should be translated "I didn't understand YOU". - judiconklin, Aug 23, 2012

Answer 1

Aparently there is such as thing as "leísmo de cortesía" and I wonder if that is the reason it appears in your example - as a more polite form of 'you' than the expected direct object 'lo' or 'la' which technically would be correct.

Also in Spain there is an accepted form of leísmo when it is usual to use the io 'le' instead of the do 'lo' (nb. only for masc sing direct objects)