Is the "a" in this sentence a "personal a" ?

Question

Sentence: Él le presta la pala a su vecina.

From my beginner mind, it seems to me that this must be a "personal a". But, when I try to sound out the sentence to myself that way, it seems really odd.

To me, the sentence, if the "a" is not personal, sounds out, in literal translaiton, in one of the two following ways (I´m assuming "le" means "her" or "to her" here):

1. He to her is lending the shovel to his neighbor.
2. He her is lending the shovel to his neighbor.

If the "a" is a "personal a", then, again, to my beginner brain, the sentence has to sound out in one of these two ways (I´m assuming "le" means "her" or "to her" here):

1. He to her is lending the shovel his neighbor.
2. He her is lending the shovel his neighbor.

The second two (with the "a" being personal) are causing me great cognitive dissonace, even though I truly believe that the "personal a" is needed here.

So, which (if any) of the four ways I wrote out is the best way to interpret this sentence?

Please help. If someone can get my head straight on this one it will help me out with a ton of other sentences.

EDIT: I tried to make the first two 1 and 2, then the next two 3 and 4 to make things more clear, but I´m having trouble making the formatting do what I want (sorry).

Answer 1

The "a" in your sentence only denotes that "su vecino" is the indirect object of the verb "prestar" - to lend. Even in English you lend something (direct object) to someone.

The pronoun "le" would not be translated into English. It's a Spanish way of denoting "to him" and referring to the stated "his neighbor" which is a masculine noun in Spanish. The simplest translation for what you have is "He lends (him) the shovel to his neighbor."

Remember the word "su" in Spanish is always vague because it can mean his, her, your (singular and plural), or their. It is understood in your sentence to mean "his" because of the subject of the main verb, but in another context it could have any of the other meanings.

Excellent explanation! - francobollo, May 6, 2013

I´ve never heard of "le" being left untranslated. Is there a term that goes with that phenomenon? I tried to look up more about but didn´t find anything. - Trieltor, May 6, 2013

I don't know what this phenomenon is called either. There have been examples of it posted in the past. When you see it again, post that and we will have more discussion. - Jubilado, May 6, 2013

Answer 2

This is the "directional A"

Carlos Slim presta un millón al gobierno, a un banco, a un negocio, etc.

Deberías prestar atención a lo que dice tu profesor.

I deleted my last comment and will private message you. There´s no room to type here. - Trieltor, May 6, 2013