Indirect object pronoun with the verb Sacar

Question

Otra pregunta para todos:

Is this proper Spanish? " El gobierno le sacó la tierra del campesino al campesino." "The government took away the farmer's land."

Is this correct? I want to be sure that I have a clear grasp on these IO pronouns in Spanish. Muchísimas gracias por sus respuestas.

Answer 1

Julian gave me an idea about these types of sentences in my question about the verb quitar and here is what I understand is the correct way, I think,

Al campesino, el gobierno le sacó su tierra. Yes, I don't think it is necessary to have some many "campesinos" in the sentence.

nice work around :) - Kiwi-Girl, Sep 27, 2012

Answer 2

Yes. It's an exaggerated way of saying. The government took away from the farmer what was rightfully his (la tierra del campesino or his own land)

it's a bit awkward though isn't it, with 2x campesinos? How about something using pertenecer? Whaddya think? :) - Kiwi-Girl, Sep 27, 2012

Answer 3

Kiwi-Girl said:

it's a bit awkward though isn't it, with 2x campesinos? How about something using pertenecer? Whaddya think?

There's a saying in Spanish that comes from the Bible: Dar al César lo que es del César ("Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s) There's a parallel between this phrase and campesino.

If you wanted to use pertenecer you'd say: El gobierno le sacó al campesino la tierra que le pertenecía. But it's not as strong.

I agree if you want to stress it a double is good, but in normal speech it'd probably sound a bit strange ¿right? - Kiwi-Girl, Sep 27, 2012

jajaja I'm even using Spanglish with my punctuation lol - Kiwi-Girl, Sep 27, 2012