Direct object and indirect object placement.

Question

I believe either of the three sentences are ok. I believe 1 is correct and the others are a matter of taste. Am I on the right track regarding this issue?

1. "A Maria, Juan le compra un libro"...... I got this from asking you questions.
2. "Juan le compra un libro a Maria"....... I got this by reading your lessons.
3. "Juan le compra a Maria un libro"........I got this from another site.

What about placement of the direct object and indirect object at the end of statements 2 & 3? Does it matter which comes first at the end?

You guys are great. The last question has already been answers for me. I missed the lastest anwers from a previous question which addressed placement at the end of a statement - root1, May 11, 2017

Answer 1

Root:

I believe you have identified yourself as a beginner / newbie previously. I recognize that you want a thorough understanding of things and I admire that. At the same time, if you want to progress as quickly as possible, given a certain amount of effort, I highly encourage you to not spend too much time trying to figure out every little thing that can and cannot be done in Spanish in terms of correct grammar. Just push on with your lessons and the really important things will become clear over time. This way you will spend less time wondering about things that are unimportant at this stage of your development for learning Spanish. Obviously, you are free to take or leave my advice.

Here is a rule, if you want it, that I found on Lengalia.com, an advanced Spanish course that I have studied.

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c. Double objects: When there are two objects, one that is inanimate and another which represents a person and is introduced by "a", the first object is direct and the second object is indirect. Be careful: A object on its own that is preceded by a and represents a person can be a direct object.

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Note...this is talking about the actual direct and indirect objects to the right of the verb, not the pronouns.

According to this rule: "Juan le compra a María a un libro" (you didn't have the a)

Would mean Juan bought a book María. Or John bought María for (to give to) a book.

This would obviously be silly. But as long as there is one object without the "a" in the sentence and another one with "a" the one without is the direct object and the one with "a" is the indirect object. (Indirect objects (not pronouns) always are preceded by an "a" whether they are human or not. Direct objects are preceded by "a" only if they are human beings, known to exist, or pets or something else that you anthropomorphize (by giving it a name, for example)

As long as there is no chance of confusion, indirect and direct objects can go in any order in the sentence that you want.

Here's an example that might actually occur in real life.

Juan le compra a Fido a María. Juan bought Fido for María. (correct)

Juan le compra a María a Fido. Juan bought Maria for Fido.

When there are two objects, both preceded by "a" the first one is direct and the second is indirect.

Thanks. When you say as long is there is no confusion, that is the answer I was looking for. - root1, May 11, 2017

. - root1, May 11, 2017

I will take your advice. I changed the order of a lesson, my bad. But, you made it so clear. I can move on from here, thanks. - root1, May 12, 2017

Answer 2

"A Maria, Juan le compra un libro"...... (A María), Juan se lo compra

"Juan le compra un libro a Maria"....... Juan se lo compra (a María)

"Juan le compra a Maria un libro".......Juan se lo compra (a María)

It seems it's always SE LO . A María can be said or not.

Polenta: I don't think he was asking about pronoun reduction...just whether the objects could be listed in any order. - DilKen, May 11, 2017

Admittedly, I went a little (a lot?) overboard with my response. :) - DilKen, May 11, 2017