En Que La ...
I've come across the following Spanish: "En que la puedo ayudar?" Which translates to: "How can I help you?" I have 2 Questions about this. 1.) What does the "En que la" part of the sentence mean? Is it common usage? 2.) Also, is it acceptable to say "Puedo ayudar?" or "Puedo ayudas?" for "Can I help you?"
Thank you
4 Answers
Some countries aren't very good with their indirect/direct object pronouns, so you might hear it both ways, but it really should be "le" not "la." ¿Puedo ayudar? is okay, but doesn't really say "you," rather it just says "Can I help?"
It's more common to see "¿En qué le puedo ayudar?"
The le, or in this case, la, is referring to the person you're trying to help. With le, the person could be male or female, we don't know. With la, it's definitely a woman. Although I think la may be grammatically wrong, you will hear it used, along with lo. En qué lo puedo ayudar, specifically referring to a man.
The e in qué should carry an accent.
2.) Also, is it acceptable to say "Puedo ayudar?" or "Puedo ayudas?" for "Can I help you?"
Puedo ayudas is wrong.
Puedo ayudar - I think you have to have le or te -- le/te puedo ayudar
I don´t know if I have seen or heard the ´la´ part in there, but have heard
¨En que puedo ayudarle?¨
It is like.
In what can I help you?
With what may I assist you?
Or more idiomatically, How can I help you.
Why doesn't "que" have a tilde?
