"le" and "les"

Question

I bought a study manual that says "le" and "les" can also be direct object pronouns. Is this so? All the other references I have state only "lo" and "la" (plus plural forms) are the third person DO.

Answer 1

Strictly speaking, le and les are only used as indirect object pronouns. However, there is a phenomenon, mostly used in Spain, called leísmo, where le is used as a direct object instead of la/lo. The same goes for les instead of las/los.

Examples of correct Spanish:

¿Quiere que la ayude a cruzar la calle, señora? The same phrase, using leísmo, would read: ¿Quiere que le ayude a cruzar la calle, señora?

Abuelitos, ¿a qué hora los llevo al aeropuerto? The same phrase, using leísmo, would read: Abuelitos, ¿a qué hora les llevo al aeropuerto?

This link may come in handy to understand this dialectical variation.

I hope this helps!

Answer 2

This is a great lesson to teach you about indirect object pronous, le/les. It is very helpful.

allfreespanish

Thanks for the link! - RolloMartins, May 21, 2013