indirect object and question

Question

http://www.wordreference.com/es/translation.asp?tranword=shake

La mala noticia le va a afectar mucho. Esta mala noticia la conmocionará.

Why is le used in one sentence and la is used in the other?

le is an indirect object and la is a direct object. Why is an indirect object used in one sentence and a direct object in the other? Thank you for your help!

Answer 1

le = a él/a ella/ a usted

lo = a él

la= a ella

Answer 2

First of all thank you for all the answers.

"Many people,including myself, use "le" instead of "lo" or "la" as a direct object if the direct object is a person."

Esta mala noticia la conmocionará.

In this sentence la is a direct object (a direct person).

Why is le not used?

Is it possible that le and la can be used interchangeably in case of a direct person

(direct object)?

depending of the region these will behave as I outlined in my answer. :) - chileno, Jul 30, 2013

Answer 3

I believe, la here is used as "the." Mala is a feminine word. Like when you say in English "the house," the equivalent to that is "la casa" because casa is feminine, or "the restaurant" "el restaurante = restaurant is masculine therefore you use el." La mala noticia le va a afectar mucho = the bad news is going to affect him/her/it much. "le" is an object pronoun. "le afectar = him/her/it is going to be affected. The sentence can also be rewritten to this: La mala noticia va a afectarle mucho. If the verb is in the infitive, you can attach the object pronoun to it.

Also, the same thing applies to "esta" and "este." Esta is "this in feminine," and "este is "this in masculine." Examples: Esta casa, esta semana. "Este restaurante," "este año = this year"

PS: I believe it's "la noticia mala" not the other way around. In Spanish they put the adjective after the noun, but I'm not quite sure if that's the case here.

Correct me if i'm wrong guys.

Hope it helps!

Answer 4

La mala noticia le va a afectar mucho. Esta mala noticia la conmocionará.

Assuming you are talking about the "le and la" that are in bold. Then I think that the "le" may be a leismo. Many people,including myself, use "le" instead of "lo" or "la" as a direct object if the direct object is a person. In other words you could change the "le" to "lo" or "la" without changing the meaning. I think! But then I'm probably wrong.