Indirect Object Question

Question

In the spanish sentence: "Te puedo ayudar?" (Can I help you?). Is Te an indirect object pronoun or a Direct Object pronoun? From the grammar section on SpanishDict it says for IDO: "Indirect objects tell “to whom” or “for whom” something is done." And for DO: "Direct objects are nouns which receive the action of a verb in a sentence."

Based on those explanations I can see it both ways. Can someone help me with this? Thank you.

Answer 1

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ayudar(se). 1. Cuando significa ‘ofrecer ayuda a alguien’, se ha generalizado su uso como transitivo en gran parte del dominio hispanohablante. Además del complemento directo de persona, suele llevar un complemento con a, si lo que sigue es un infinitivo, o con a o en si lo que sigue es un sustantivo: «Alguien LO ayudó A incorporarse» (JmnzEmán Tramas [Ven. 1991]); «Un psiquiatra [...] puede definir el perfil del asesino y ayudar A su captura» (LpzNavarro Clásicos [Chile 1996]); «Tenía perros amaestrados que LO ayudaban EN sus fechorías» (Villoro Noche [Méx. 1980]). Es incorrecto omitir la preposición: «Ayudaron revitalizar el teatro chileno» (Hoy [Chile] 7-13.1.81). En ciertas zonas no leístas, sin embargo, se mantiene su uso como intransitivo, conservando el dativo con que se construía en latín (lat. adiutare): «Su hijo Leoncio LE ayuda [a ella] a vivir» (Hoy [El Salv.] 30.1.97) (? LEÍSMO, 4e).

e) Otro grupo que ofrece confusión es el formado por verbos que han cambiado o están cambiando su régimen, esto es, que se construían habitualmente en el español medieval con pronombres de dativo, como en latín, y que hoy están pasando a construirse mayoritariamente con pronombres de acusativo, como es el caso de ayudar u obedecer. Este proceso de cambio no se ha dado de manera uniforme en todas las áreas. strong textAsí, en las zonas no leístas del norte de España el régimen habitual es el dativo: «Vidal LE ayudó. Y entre los dos lograron acercarlo al desmonte» (Aparicio Retratos [Esp. 1989]); en América está prácticamente generalizado el acusativo, sobre todo en los países del Cono Sur: «Natí LO ayudó a subir» (RBastos Hijo [Par. 1960]); Andalucía y Canarias son zonas de vacilación: «LO ayudó a subir» (CBonald Noche [Esp. 1981]); «Ella LE ayudó a recostarse en un sofá» (MñzMolina Invierno [Esp. 1987]).

My understanding is that ayudar originated out a verb that took an indirect object ( akin to “provide help to someone”) but now generally takes a direct object (to help someone)(-lo, la, los, las)- however in some places it still takes the indirect object (le, les) and that this is NOT due to leísmo, but the historical form.

This is discussed in the RAE quotes above.

You can find discussions with disagreements as to whether it should ayudarle or ayudarla/lo among even native Spanish speakers, but RAE is considered to be the definitive reference.

I discuss in terms of the third person objects as you can tell by which is being used whether it is considered direct or indirect.

Thanks Bosque, I have edited my post to hopefully put it more correctly, thank you to your insights from rae - much appreciated. - Kiwi-Girl, Apr 12, 2013

Great answer thank you! :) - hershey964, Apr 13, 2013

Answer 2

When something is given to someone, be it a book or help, the thing given is the direct object because it receives the action of the verb.

For example take the verb and 'dar' and ask yourself 'what is given' - that's your direct object.

To find the indirect object the word, if something is being given, look for 'who' it's being given 'to' - say to yourself 'to whom' (or sometimes 'for whom' etc)

This could work for your sentence too, as some speakers might view the help as being given 'to' someone, therefore representing the recipient with an indirect object pronoun.

This is how they may look at it.

I help him.

I give help to him.

Le ayuda.

Le is an indirect object

And I personally have heard native speakers say this.

Bear in mind however that 'te' is both the indirect and the direct object pronoun, they are identical.

Edit

As with many things you come across in Spanish using an indirect object pronoun could well be regional use, because as Bosque pointed out RAE lists ayudar as transitive, ie. it should take the direct object instead of the indirect one.

For sentences that have both a direct and an indirect object pronoun or for intransitive verbs (like gustar) that take the indirect object, if you have trouble identifying the indirect objects you can sometimes change the order of the sentence and try to insert the word 'to' and have the sentence make sense (even if it seems a little awkward):

She gave me the book.

She gave the book to me.

Me dio el libro.

Me is the indirect object pronoun.

There will be exceptions but often this technique will help.

If you can't put 'to' in and have the sentence make sense, likely you're dealing with a direct object pronoun.

I saw him.

I saw 'to' him??? nope

Lo vi.

Lo is an indirect object pronoun.

So when something is given 'to' someone, that someone is your indirect object because they indirectly received the action of the verb, in this case the action of giving - there's you giving the help, the help being given and the person receiving it.

So with the verb dar, take what is being given and asked 'who' it is being given 'to' and that's your indirect object.

Here's a lesson on the subject that might help.

So the Te is the indirect object because it is receiving the help? - hershey964, Apr 12, 2013

Actually, I believe in much (but not all) of Spain it is intransitive, and in much (but not all) of the Americas it is transitive, and so it is definitely regional. - bosquederoble, Apr 12, 2013

Thank you BR, your post and comments have helped me and I'm sure Hershey too to have a much better understanding of how ayudar works. :) - Kiwi-Girl, Apr 12, 2013

And for that reason everybody gets confused, because they can find it being used either way, depending on the origin of the speaker. - bosquederoble, Apr 12, 2013

So I guess there is no wrong answer. - bosquederoble, Apr 12, 2013

But much better one that presents both options, thanks again :) - Kiwi-Girl, Apr 12, 2013

Thank you! That does help - hershey964, Apr 13, 2013