"atrae" followed by "a"

Question

Hi to all.

To preface this question:

1. "atraer" means "to attract"
2. the personal "a" precedes direct objects that are people.

The sentence in question:

Este bronceador atrae a las abejas porque tiene un perfume dulce.

Given translation:

This suntan lotion attracts bees because it has a sweet fragrance.

                             so

I thought translating "atrae" as "attracts" would make the following "a" an "a personal" which should only precede direct objects that are people (and so would not apply to bees).

when I came across this sentence I had trouble coming to terms with why "a" is placed after "atrae" and before "las abejas". The only way of translating it that makes sense to me is to think of "atrae" being used to say something like "is alluring", then "a las abejas" would make sense as meaning "(the suntan lotion) is alluring to the bees." and then the "a" would not be an "a personal" but would simply mean to.

Can anyone tell me if I am thinking about this correctly or am I completely off base?

Many thanks to anyone who answers and thanks to this wonderful community!

Answer 1

Julian is probably right but my first thought was that atraer is a verb of motion like ir and often get an "a" attached to it like " ir a infinitive". Just a thought.

I just looked in the dictionary and saw this:

1. to attract (gustar)

   la miel atrae a las moscas

Thanks so much. I thought of that too but couldn't convince myself that was correct. Anyway, thank you very much for commenting! - 004d9596, May 13, 2015

Answer 2

Atraer is a transitive verb, so in your sentence the subject "bronceador" acts directly on "las abejas" and should not have the "personal A". My guess is that it is a mistake or a colloquial usage.

Thank you so much for your input. I really do appreciate it! - 004d9596, May 13, 2015

Answer 3

I totally disagree with the other native Spanish speakers. In Spain the only way to say that is:

La miel atrae a las abejas

El olor a carne atrae a los perros

But if you say:

El olor a carne atrae los perros

the sentence have no sense

In Spain if you don't use the preposition a in this kind of sentences is a gramatical mistake. Probably you can check it in any Spanish book or in the RAE.

It happens also with non-life forms :

Era tan aburrido que dormía a las piedras (He was so boring)

EDIT: After looking for this in internet I found this:

Uso de a

No estoy de acuerdo aunque sí el enlace da muchísima información sobre el tema, hasta el mismo refiere a los mascotas y animales "personalizados", los cuales no son "las abejas". Fíjate en el ejemplo dado por el RAE bajo de "atraer" que dice - 005faa61, May 12, 2015

........"La miel atrae las moscas " (sin la "A"). Saludos - 005faa61, May 12, 2015

Puedes decir: esto o aquello atrae mala suerte, o atrae la envidia de los demás, etc. - LuisCache, May 12, 2015

Thank you so much for your input. It is very much appreciated! - 004d9596, May 12, 2015

Por eso he puesto el link, porque habla que las dos opciones zse pueden decir. Ahora bien, en España eso es considerado error gramatical y además para cualqueir español suena fatal. - txustaboy, May 13, 2015

Luis cache: repito, en España la frase se diría: Atrae la mala suerte o atrae a la mala suerte, nunca sin articulo o preposición. - txustaboy, May 13, 2015

Answer 4

It should be atrae las abejas

Thanks so much for taking the time to comment! - 004d9596, May 13, 2015