Indirect object with pedir
Please confirm if "The professor asked the boys for silence" should be translated as one of the following (or some other way): 1) El profesor pidió silencio a los chicos;
2) El profesor les pidió silencio a los chicos.
The source I consulted did not have the indirect object and I cannot figure out why that would be absent.
2 Answers
To my understanding (I am having a bit of difficulty finding a good reference currently):
If you put an object before the verb you must use an object pronoun to mark it. This is required and it is grammatically incorrect when not done. This is for direct and indirect objects, although you see it more often with indirect objects, as they are put in front more often.
If the object follows the verb, the redundant pronoun is not grammatically required, but is normally used for indirect objects and students are taught to do it to sound normal. It is not normally used for direct objects so we are taught not to in that case. It is done with direct objects sometimes, especially in Latin America- for example "lo tengo todo" I have it all. Lo refers there to todo.
Check back for comments or other answers in case my memory failed me on anything, sorry I cannot find a reference currently.
Bottom line, I would write number 2, and personally would want to be corrected if I wrote number 1, but I think number 1 is technically grammatically correct although not the most common way to express it.
In general the indirect object of a sentence will ALWAYS use an indirect object pronoun whether or not there is also an indirect object noun phrase. To find the indirect object phrase in a sentence, ask “to whom?,” “for whom?”
Le tiró la pelota a Juan. (He threw the ball to Juan.)
