Personal a and direct object pronoun

Question

Does the personal 'a' apply to pronouns? I thought the rule was that the personal 'a' applied when a person was the object of a sentence. But in the following example "when I called you (usted)" "quando lo llamé". Is the "you" not a person and an object of the verb and so should the personal 'a' not apply? I believe this question is separate from the whole leísmo / loísmo issue. I could provide other examples taken from my various grammer books.

Answer 1

You do not use the personal “a” with direct or indirect object pronouns, and if you combine the personal a with a pronoun, it will be the pronoun for an object of a preposition.

But if you do that, it is only for emphasis, and you still must use the pronoun you are referring to.

(A mí) me gusta leer. Both “me” and “a mí” refer to me- redundantly, it just emphasizes it- I am talking about me, not who we were just talking about, perhaps.

Te quiero (a ti). Again, emphasis- I love you, not someone else.

You will also frequently include the indirect object pronoun for an actual noun, and this is not for emphasis- you do not do that for direct objects:

A Pedro le gusta leer. Indirect object, so le is included redundantly without being simply for emphasis- it is required.

Quiero a María. No need to include a “la” as she is a direct object.

This is my understanding as an intermediate level learner.

Your intermediate understanding and mine as a native speaker are the same. Ya knocked it out of the park again Dr. Boskaku.♥ - Daniela2041, Sep 9, 2015

Gracias, Daniela. :) - bosquederoble, Sep 9, 2015

Thank you. I did not come across this specific point in my various books - mojac, Sep 9, 2015