"I want to take her something"

Question

I am learning Spanish through the Pimsleur approach and the phrase "I want to take her something" translates as "Quiero llevar le algo". Shouldn't it be llevar la since la is feminine and I want to take something to her??

I'm confused and looking for help - thank you

Welcome to the forum! Great question... =) - NikkiLR, Aug 31, 2013

Answer 1

I assume you are hearing this and not seeing it. It should read: "Quiero llevarle algo." The "le" is attached to the infinitive of the verb.

Having said that, I am no grammar expert but I think the "le" is an indirect object pronoun and algo is the direct object. So "le" is the correct pronoun as "la" is a direct object pronoun.

Think of it in English like this "I want to take something to/for her".

Perfect explanation - 005faa61, Aug 31, 2013

Ditto! - Jubilado, Aug 31, 2013

I´ll pile on. Perfect. Llevarla means to bring her. Llevarle means to bring To her. - rogspax, Aug 31, 2013

Answer 2

Gringojrf is right, *le is used for indirect object and *la (in this case because is feminine) as direct object, it means that if you use " llevarla" the action is on the noun, for example "quiero llevarla a mi casa" means "I want to take her to my house" while "quiero llevarle unas flores y una caja de chocolates" means "I want to take her some flowers and a box of chocolates" . I hope this helps!

Answer 3

Gringojrf is right, *le is used for indirect object and *la (in this case because is feminine) as direct object, it means that if you use " llevarla" the action is on the noun, for example "quiero llevarla a mi casa" means "I want to take her to my house" while "quiero llevarle unas flores y una caja de chocolates" means "I want to take her some flowers and a box of chocolates" . I hope this helps!

Answer 4

Thanks for the explanation - it makes perfect sense