2007-08-11

(Extraneous) Indirect-Object Pronouns

One thing I struggled with, for sure, is shoe-horning (calzador) in that extra indirect-object pronoun. If you're anything like me, you probably don't remember which of all those pronouns is the indirect-object one. Ya te digo. It's that one, right there.

So sometimes it seems a little bit repetitive to the Anglophone ear to use the IDP when you're also mentioning the subject (for clarification or emphasis). But here it is:

Le voy a llamar a Juan mañana.

- Te debo diez pesos?
- No, yo te debo a ti diez pesos.

Le dije a él que yo iba al cine y él le dijo a ella que iba al restaurante. Por esto había tantos problemas.

I'm starting to get used to the repetitiveness of Spanish. I kind of like it now.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I should comment that while "le voy a llamar" is correct in other spanish speaking countries, it is not used in Buenos Aires (Rioplatense español). The correct form would be "lo/la voy a llamar" depending on the gender. I struggled with this as well, but the IO/DO pronoun usage here is particular. I have asked numerous natives and the explanation is "that's just the way it is with certain verbs." This is a little known peculiarity with Rioplatense español. Hope this helps!