I have a grammar question!
El hombre le corta el pelo a su cliente. El arquitecto les presenta su idea a los clientes.
In these sentences, what do "le" and "les" mean/do?
3 Answers
Referring to Spanish Lesson 2.5, le (singular) and les (plural) are third person (and the formal "you") indirect pronouns. Indirect pronouns precede (go before) verbs AND before direct pronouns.
El hombre (noun, subject) le (indirect pronoun) corta (verb) el pelo (noun) a (used when referring to people, placed before direct object) su (possessive pronoun) cliente (noun, direct object)
In translation, The man cut his client's hair for him.
The man (noun, subject) cut (verb) his (possessive pronoun) client's (noun, direct object) hair (noun) for (English preposition) him (indirect object)
El arquitecto les presenta su idea a los clientes.
The same idea works here (Spanish grammar is rather consistent):
El arquitecto (noun, subject) les (indirect pronoun) presenta (verb) su (possessive pronoun) idea (noun) a (used when referring to people, placed before direct object) los clientes (noun, direct object)
Here it is more apparent that the indirect pronoun refers to the clients because "les" is plural, and so is "los clientes." Following the translation:
The architect presents his ideas to the clients.
Now, why would we need an indirect pronoun if we're pointing out the direct object. Most likely, if these are the starter sentences, and the reader doesn't know the context. In English, it's the same. We start off with labels of what we're talking about and then switch to the pronouns because we know the context of what we are talking about.
Quoted from Lesson 2.3, "Note: If you have the indirect object pronoun, you don't need to have the indirect object phrase if you already know who you're talking about.
I recommend Spanish Lesson 2.3 for viewing to explain it. Also, go to the Learn tab and click on Spanish Grammar. Scroll down to the section Pronouns and review the following articles for further explanations and examples:
Indirect object pronouns (me, te, le, nos, os, les)
Indirect object pronoun placement
Hope this helps.
Hola... Here we have... "El hombre le corta el pelo a su cliente" y "El arquitecto les presenta su idea a los clientes". So,here le and les represents object pronouns... These ones are indirect object pronouns.... Indirect objects tell “to whom” or “for whom” something is done. Just like direct object pronouns replace direct objects, indirect object pronouns are the replacements for indirect objects, which are always personal nouns. Le and les represents third person object pronouns..
-le (to/for you formal, him, her, it)
-les (to/for them, you formal)
For example-
1.Le he comprado esto significa I bought this for him
2.Yo les compré a ustedes una casa significa I bought a house for you....
Hope you understood.... Gracias
There is a peculiarity (to English speakers) in the Spanish language that requires a indirect object pronoun before the verb when the indirect object noun is a person. For example:
"María les escribe una carta a sus padres" "Pablo le da un anillo de oro a su novia"
regards
