Le, La and Lo
I am confused about when to use "le", "la" and "lo". Like in today's Word of the Day, we find . "Casi no le hablaba ni la miraba", translated as "He barely spoke to her or looked at her", using both le and la. I have not been able to figure out a rule for which one to use in a given sentence. Why LE hablaba, but LA miraba?
5 Answers
I have not been able to figure out a rule for which one to use in a given sentence. Why LE hablaba, but LA miraba?
"Le" can be used to indicate "him" or "her" but using "la" and "lo" is preferable. (When speaking to a woman formally, the preferred personal accusative pronoun used is "la" ie: "mucho gusto en conocerla"- "nice to meet you" - to a man formally "gusto en conocerle").
When the pronoun represents things, "le" is not used and we must use "lo" and "la."
To your original question: "le" and "la" are used in the same sentence for ease of pronunciation. "La hablaba" is difficult because the two "A" sounds run together, so we use "le" in this case.
ie: "Dile (a ella) que la quiero y que le adoro." Saying "la adoro" would also be two "A" sounds run together resulting very sloppy speech, so "le" is used.
Here are a couple more articles that you might find helpful:
Direct & Indirect Objects - An Introduction
and
hablaba- he or she said (imperfect, happened at some indeterminate point in the past).
no le hablaba...hablaba in this case the verb refers to her (she). He (le) didn't speak to her.
ni la miraba...miraba in this case the verb refers to him (he, not looking at her (la).
Nor her did he look at.
Sometimes they are used interchangeably. La is used for a female direct object. Le is used for a female indirect object ( a person) or can be used when the direct object is a person. It could be said "ni le miraba" but in the sentence the girl is the direct object so they use "la" instead.
