"no puedo escuchar él"

Question

¡No puedo escuchar él!

I can't hear him! My atfempt to create the sentence in Spanish.

Corrijan mi frase si es necessario.

Thanks so much

Answer 1

No puedo escucharlo (a él.) In some regions No puedo escucharle (a él)

The " a él" between parenthesis could be omitted or said.

You can also use the "lo" or "le" in another position.

No lo puedo escuchar (a él) or No le puedo escuchar ( a él)

In my country we use LO but I think in Spain they could say LE and we understand both and accept both. I don't know what your teacher thinks about it.

You could use the verb OIR too.

Wannlalearn: What Polenta is referring to is called leísmo, the use of the indirect pronoun for males when the standard grammar would use the direct object. This is so prevalent that the RAE accepts it now. - DilKen, May 4, 2017

Polenta thanks so much - Wannalearn, May 5, 2017

Yes, leismo is something really interesting. It has been documented to exist all over the Spanish speaking world. In some regions it's really prevailing. Nobody knows why. It was originally a mistake, but it's widely accepted today. - Raff75, May 5, 2017

Raff: I've read several explanations about leísmo, loísmo and laísmo. They seem to spring from the unfortunate? aspect of Spanish pronouns that le is used for men and women and lo can mean him or it. English has it's own problems with pronouns. - DilKen, May 5, 2017

One problem, for example, is you can be singular you or plural you. That led to the use of y'all (substandard) for plural you. - DilKen, May 5, 2017

Answer 2

You can’t hear him, He is the direct object, you need a direct object pronoun- lo, not a subject pronoun (él)

I generally think oír= hear, escuchar= listen, although there may be times the English and Spanish choices of these pairs do not match.

So I would have written:

No puedo oírlo.

Or

No lo puedo oír.

I see a number of us were answering at the same time. :) - bosquederoble, May 4, 2017

bosque thank you - Wannalearn, May 5, 2017

Sure, both languages are independent from each other, and (both) are world wide and in continuous evolution, so there are formal equivalents that sometimes do not match well. The common usage is so complex. Good answer. You have my vote. - Raff75, May 5, 2017

Answer 3

You wrote:
¡No puedo escuchar él!

It should be: No lo puedo escuchar.

or

No puedo escucharlo.

Wannalearn:

Something I frequently do, is type something into Google Translate in Spanish, and see how it is translated into English. Google Translate is usually quite forgiving and will give you the correct English translation even though you might have some mistakes in your Spanish.

Therefore, to check myself, I put the English into Google Translate and see if it gives me back the same Spanish and if not, I learn from my mistakes. Try it, you might like it. And you can do it for fun over and over again with new things that you are learning.

I should add that the above advice is good for beginners with simple sentences such as what you posted. With complex sentences and grammar usage in either language Google Translate will often make mistakes so it becomes a little less useful as a learning device. But I still do it and I have learned enough to recognize Google Tranlate's errors most of the time. And that's sort of fun too

Sorry Kenhuizenga but "no puedo escuchar él " is wrong. Espero me disculpes mi corrección. - polenta1, May 4, 2017

Polenta: I realize that...I was just showing what the poster wrote. I should have been more clear. Will fix now. - DilKen, May 4, 2017

Also, Polenta, I appreciate your courtesy, but I never mind it when someone corrects me. That's one of the best ways I can learn. Thanks.. - DilKen, May 4, 2017

Polenta: In your comment to me I notice you didn't say Espero que me disculpes. Is it OK to leave out the que grammatically or is this just an informal or relaxed way of doing it? (or an unintentional mistake?) - DilKen, May 4, 2017

I can't tell you if omitting que is right or wrong. I would use it and although I don't know Spanish grammar very well, I would use que or omit it and it would be good for me. - polenta1, May 4, 2017

I'm not a grammarian but I consider myself quite an educated Spanish speaker so maybe both ways are right but maybe someone who knows grammar rules could say I'm wrong. - polenta1, May 4, 2017

kenhuiz thanks - Wannalearn, May 5, 2017

I dont want to say what is obvious but in my opinion we should follow 3 simple principles here: 1-Try to provide quality content, 2-being open to be corrected and 3-do not correct others before we read their answers in a thorough manner. - Raff75, May 5, 2017

No matter how well educated we are, when it's about Spanish Language we all are students all the time. Ive been dealing with Spanish and English in professional terms for so many years and almost everyday I find something new, and that's great! - Raff75, May 5, 2017

I'm giving my opinions and the knowledge of a normal, educated native Spanish speaker. I've read thousands of newspapers, hundreds of books and essays, watched thousands of TV progrmas and the like. Don't take what I say as a rule. - polenta1, May 5, 2017

Raff: just so you know,the exchange between Polenta and me was no problem for either of us. I originally copied what the poster wrote and Polenta interpreted it as if I thought it was OK. I then added my comments about it being wrong. NO problems here. :) - DilKen, May 5, 2017