Indirect object pronoun question

Question

I've been doing rosetta stone and I came across the following sentence: "El nino llama por telefono a su madre."

My questions is why isn't there an Indirect Object Pronoun? Why isn't it: "El nino le llama por telefono a su madre?"

Answer 1

In Spanish, a direct object that is also a person takes the preposition "a" before it, which can be confusing. "Madre" is still a direct object, though.

You could use a direct object pronoun ("lo", "la"), but it would really need to have been introduced earlier.

El niño quiere a su madre. La llama por teléfono.

Answer 2

From another one of my books.

Llamar is a transitive verb that only takes a direct object.

pattern 1

subject + verb + direct object noun ( + adverb or prepositional phrase)

Juan llamaba a su papá todas las noches.

pattern 2

(subject) + direct object pronoun + verb ( + adverb or prepositional phrase)

Juan lo llamó anoche.

Good work Swampy, more often than not llamar is used transitively but it can at times be intransitive according to RAE http://lema.rae.es/drae/?val=Llamar so you will at times come across llamar being used with an indirect object pronoun. - Kiwi-Girl, Feb 14, 2013

Answer 3

@PeterRS

This is from the book 'Español Contemporáneo' .

The use of a redundant indirect object pronoun is common practice in Spanish. However a redundant indirect object pronoun is not used with a verb which permits only a person as its direct object.

The reported him ( turned him in ) to the police. Lo delataron a la policía. ( Not se lo delataron a la policía )

If the verb is one which may take either a thing or a person as its direct object, the redundant indirect object pronoun may be used or omitted.

Lo entregaron ( se lo entregaron ) a la policía. They handed him over to the police.

Although at times one encounters a redundant direct object pronoun, this usage is less common, is often considered poor style, and should be avoided by the student.

Vi al cartero. ( Not lo vi al cartero ) I saw the mailman.

However, when a noun object, direct or indirect precedes the verb, the corresponding redundant object pronoun is always used.

No quiero la mesa, pero las sillas las compro. I don't want the table, but the chairs I'll buy.

With those verbs which may take only an indirect object, verbs like convenir, gustar, faltar, hacer falta, importar, occurir, pasar etc. the redundant indirect object is always used.

Wow, that's enough typing for me. I hope I didn't make things more confusing.

Thanks. I obviously have a lot to learn. - PeterRS, Feb 14, 2013

Answer 4

I use Rosetta Stone also (I'm in Level 3 Unit 4 right now), and I also find the use of I.O.P.'s and D. O. P.'s confusing. I think you're confusing D.O.P.'s with INDIRECT Object Pronouns.

It's the I.O.P.'s that need to be present regardles if the Indirect Object is used later. I've been told in this forum that this is called Indirect Object duplication. It's apparantly not necessary to duplicate Direct Objects.

Please someone correct me if I have this wrong.

Answer 5

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