Es un gusto atenderle

Question

Hi,

I came across the phrase 'es un gusto atenderle', which I understand translates to 'it is a pleasure to serve you'.

I'm slightly confused over the 'le' in 'antenderle'. My understanding is that this is an indirect object prounoun, which with the infinitive 'antender' makes 'to serve him' rather than 'to serve you'.

To get 'it is a pleasure to serve you', I'd therefore expect the Spanish translation to be 'es un gusto atenderte' but clearly this isn't the case. Could someone explain why?

Thanks in advance

He/she is using the polite form le - can be you as in usted as well as he/she - Mardle, Sep 27, 2017

Answer 1

“Le” is “you” in this case, used in the third person singular (usted). I wouldn’t address a customer as “tú (te) unless I knew him very well. Example of answering the phone:

“Gracias por llamar a XXXX. ¿En qué le puedo servir (atender) a usted?”

perfecto :) - 006595c6, Sep 27, 2017