Pégale duro
I saw a kid's t-shirt recently that had a baseball and bat on it along with the words "Pegale duro". I understand it to mean "Hit it hard". As a non-native speaker, this confused me, because it seems like it should be "Pégalo (for "balón") or Pégala (for "pelota"). Could someone explain to me why it's "Pégale"?
4 Answers
There are quite a few idiomatic expressions like this one Pégale (duro), ie: Dale / Ándale / Órale / Échale / Ópale / Pásale and probably more that I have forgotten at the moment. Everyone who attempts to explain the use of leísmo in these cases is really offering a grammatical theory because there is no grammatical explanation. There is no direct object or indirect object, so the le is just an abstract idea - idioms are not supposed to make grammatical sense anyway.
A case in point: Pasar. If we say "Pásale la sal", we can easily identify both direct (la sal) and indirect object (él / ella). But what about when a friend arrives at your door and you invite him in? You naturally say: Pasa / Pásale while using familiar tú. The le here means nothing, it´s just idiomatic.
If a young woman asks my permission to pass by, she will probably say: Con permiso. I can respond by moving and saying: Pase / Pásele / Pase Ud. Of course if I really want to impress her, I will say: Pase Ud. señorita (the most elegant way).
Some of these idioms can be used without le as well and still have the same meaning, ie: ¡Anda! / ¡Ópa!
It´s best to recognize which expressions are idiomatic and to not lose sleep over the use of leísmo in them because it really has no use.
My thanks to Mardle for the correction of "lose".
There is too much here to bring over, you should read it:
http://forum.wordreference.com/threads/pégalo-o-pégale.688764/
To my understanding
Because of the way pegar is derived, the direct object is what is being stuck/struck to something, etc., the receiver of the action is the indirect- the ball.
So in essence you are hitting the bat to the ball. I have not thought of any English equivalent like that quite yet, if I do I will add it.
Here is a quote from my link:
Pégatelo en la nariz (Pégate(OI) algo(OD) en la nariz)
Pégalo en la nariz - Péga algo en la nariz
No lo pegues en la nariz( No te pegues algo en la nariz)
Si es pegar a alguien, alguien es Objeto directo, pasa a ser LE
Pégale al payaso en la nariz - Pégale(a él) en la nariz
No pegues al payaso en la nariz - No le pegues en la nariz
My guess is that in this sentence the ball is not the direct object, but the indirect object:
Pega (un golpe, una patada, un batazo) a la pelota (el balón).
The direct object (la, lo) would be un golpe, una patada, un batazo....
The indirect object (le) would be a la pelota, al balón...*.
That is why we say: ¡Pégale!
For some reason which I don't know ( as so much!) the verb dar is often seen with 'le' . I would translate this one as ' Give it your best// give it what you've got// or indeed, just hit it hard.
There is even a football making company called Dalemas.
I suppose it is a ' léismo'?,
