i.o.p. vs d.o.p Question

Question

If I want to say "He prefers them," do I say "El los prefiere" or "El les prefiere"????

Si quiero decir "He prefers them," digo "El los prefiere" or "El les prefiere"????

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Answer 1

There is a regional difference between the sentences you wrote.

"He prefers them" in this case it would be a direct object and we, in latin america, would say "Él los prefiere". Either, people and things.

But if you are in spain, probably you will hear "Él les prefiere" if you are talking about people.

Some examples:

Él lo mató. (LA) and Él le mató. (SP)

Lo vi en la calle. (LA) and Le vi en la calle (SP)

That's very interesting. I've heard about leísmo but I thought it was used... indiscriminately, as it were. But this distinction actually sounds nice. :) - Manity, Mar 20, 2015

I've read that in Spain they use "le" as the I.O.P. for men and "la" for woman. So if it was a group of women only they say "Las prefiere"? - DilKen, Mar 20, 2015

yes kenhuizenga, you're right, "le" is used only for men. So in spain people would say "Él las prefiere" - cokee, Mar 20, 2015

Answer 2

It's a direct object, so "(Él) los prefiere."

I'm trying to think of a sentence where an indirect object would be used but I'm not sure "prefer" can act in that way. The only thing I came up with was "He prefers to give it to them." In this case "to them" would require an indirect object pronoun but I would translate this one as "Prefiere dárselo a ellos.", so no "les" here either. (Would "Les prefiere darlo a ellos" be correct at all? Never heard anything like it and it sounds very awkward to me.)

"Prefiere dárselo a ellos." its the correct way to say it. And "Les prefiere darlo a ellos" it doesn't sound good to me neither. - cokee, Mar 20, 2015

Cokee: I assume you want English mistakes to be pointed out (as I do with Español) ...you should have used "either" instead of "neither" to avoid the double negative in English. Completely different from Spanish. - DilKen, Mar 20, 2015

Answer 3

Sólo estoy curioso pero ¿se podría decir "A él le gustan más" aquí?

I'm just curious, but could one say "He likes them more" here?

Le gustan más.

A él le gustan más.

If so, which of the above two sentence would be more common? I'm guessing the first if, from context, it is understood that we are talking about a specific "he/him."

I'm curious whether Spanish speakers would use preferir OR gustar more often?

In the United States, I think the frequency would be:

1. He likes them better. (better can be an adverb or an adjective in English...same with mejor in Spanish)

2. He likes them more.

3. He prefers them. (although it is a fairly short word it sounds a little "formal."

So...followup question:

Le gustan mejor or Le gustan más. Which would be more common? I'm guessing the latter.

Yes, you can, and it is correct. - cokee, Mar 20, 2015