Se les acercó y los saludó

Question

Antonio y su novia salieron y paseaban felices por el centro de la ciudad cuando de repente vieron al jefe de Antonio bajar de un coche que pasaba por allí.Al ver a los novios, el señor se les acercó, los saludó y les dijo con una sonrisa en la cara

This paragraph is from my book, my question is ,why it´s se les acercó, y los saludó.why not se los acercó , y les saludó? Or both are correct?

Answer 1

Interesting question - what I think - and someone will correct me is that the acercar verb takes an indiect object pronoun, and the saludar one a direct object - but I'm not clear either why this is - so hopefully someone will clarify! The translators for "he approached them.." give me "se acercó a ellos.." but not sure what trust I place in them..

also I wonder about the use of "el señor " what exactly does it translate to - surely not "the lord"? - Ansionnach, Feb 21, 2013

I'm guessing that the tranlation "se acercó a ellos.." should be "se les acercó a ellos.." -with the "a ellos" part optional as it is redundant - but agan would love to hear from an expert - Ansionnach, Feb 21, 2013

Answer 2

Perhaps because in the reflexive form (the verb being acercarse), the person coming closer is the direct object, the person being approached is the indirect object.

I think you mean the the person coming closer is the subject - but I agree that the vaerb is the reflexive acerarse. - Ansionnach, Feb 21, 2013