Pronoun Proceeding Verb

Question

I was reading today and saw the following sentence:

--Vamos-- le dijo Ron a Harry

Why is the le there and exactly what does it mean? Is it referring to Harry? If so, why is it necessary there when it's clear that Ron is saying vamos to Harry?

Thanks in advance,

Grant

Answer 1

Le (personal pronoun representing "Harry") is grammatically required because it is the recipient of the the action decir even though it is the indirect object, so we could say just: Vamos, le dijo Ron. The clause a Harry is only for clarification.

Answer 2

Yes le refers to a Harry, and may be considered redundant to an English speaker, but is quite normal to a Spanish speaker, and it is normal to use the indirect object pronoun even when it is directly identified in the sentence (something never done in English)- and it is required if that indirect object precedes the verb. It is not required in this case, since a harry is after the verb but it is the most natural and normal way of doing it.

I will quote my answer from a few days ago, when someone asked about a sentence that found that did not have the “redundant” indirect object.

http://www.spanishdict.com/answers/282634/indirect-object-with-pedir

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.