C_l_e_0..Q_c Posted February 9, 2010 Share Posted February 9, 2010 tengo una pregunta que mi profesor de Español no podia responder. En nuestro libro, tenemos esa frase: ¿Le has comprado el regalo a tu esposa? Has comprado es el verbo. No hay palabras por el sujeto pero es la segunda persona. El regalo es el complemento directo. a tu esposa es el complemento indirecto. Pero ¿que es Le? ¿Porque es tercera persona y no segunda? (I'm hoping I'm making sense in Spanish here...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ibbygirl Posted February 9, 2010 Share Posted February 9, 2010 tengo una pregunta que mi profesor de Español no podia responder.En nuestro libro, tenemos esa frase: ¿Le has comprado el regalo a tu esposa? Has comprado es el verbo. No hay palabras por el sujeto pero es la segunda persona. El regalo es el complemento directo. a tu esposa es el complemento indirecto. Pero ¿que es Le? ¿Porque es tercera persona y no segunda? (I'm hoping I'm making sense in Spanish here...) The "le" would be referring to the wife, but that is a weird sentence. If I were going to say "le" that way I would say it, "Le has comprado el regalo para tu esposa?" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matryoshka Posted February 9, 2010 Share Posted February 9, 2010 Ibbygirl is right that the preposition should be "para" not "a". "Le" is the indirect object pronoun. In Spanish it's correct to use both the indirect object pronoun *and* a prepositional phrase defining who is meant by the indirect object pronoun. This is especially true when it's the third person indirect object, because "le" could refer to "él", "ella", or "usted" - or any noun or name referring to the third person you mean (like "esposa" in your sentence). You can leave off the clarifying prepositional phrase, but you may not leave off the indirect object pronoun. So, "¿Le has comprado el regalo?" is fine, although a bit unclear because now we don't know that the "le" refers to the wife. But I don't think it's okay to say "¿Has comprado el regalo para tu esposa?" - You need that "le". You can see this even in how gustar is used - you usually say "a mà me gusta" or "a ti te gusta" or "a Carlos le gusta" - using both prepositional and indirect object pronouns. Again, you can get rid of the clarifying prepostional phrase, but not the indirect object pronoun. You cannot say "a mà gusta" or "a Carlos gusta", but you can say simply "me gusta" or "le gusta" - just not as clear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elisa Posted February 9, 2010 Share Posted February 9, 2010 Le is an indirect object pronoun. It's in the third person because it's referring to the wife. So the sentence would be fine like this: Le has comprado el regalo? The subject (tu) is in the second person. It's missing, but understood. Hope that makes sense! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C_l_e_0..Q_c Posted February 9, 2010 Author Share Posted February 9, 2010 The "le" would be referring to the wife, but that is a weird sentence. If I were going to say "le" that way I would say it, "Le has comprado el regalo para tu esposa?" It could be. I don't have the book in front of me to double check whether it's a tu esposa, or para tu esposa. That might very well be my mistake. So you're all saying that 'le' refers to the wife? That's not what the teacher was saying. How would we say that sentence using first person plural (we/us) ¿Le hemos comprado el regalo para el jefe? Or ¿Nos hemos comprado el regalo para el jefe? (at this point, the teacher was as lost as us I think... It was late, everyone had a full day of work before the class. Teacher said he's come back to this next week, and we ended the class...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elisa Posted February 9, 2010 Share Posted February 9, 2010 Le compramos el regalo al jefe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mabelen Posted February 9, 2010 Share Posted February 9, 2010 I agree with Elisa, the sentence as presented by CleoQc is perfectly fine. ¿Le has comprado el regalo a tu esposa? simply means Have you bought your wife the present? ¿Has comprado el regalo para tu esposa? means literally Have you bought the present for your wife?, which is practically the same. However, if you said ¿Le has comprado el regalo para tu esposa? the sentence would mean Have you bought him/her the present for your wife? which would imply a change in meaning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ibbygirl Posted February 9, 2010 Share Posted February 9, 2010 Le compramos el regalo al jefe. :iagree::iagree: That sounds right. To Cleo, I'm sorry I can't help you with the fine points of grammar as far as names and such. My family is Spanish/Cuban/American so I grew up hearing and speaking Spanish, but I couldn't tell you a single thing about what's what. I just know what sounds right or wrong to me. These other gals seem to know the grammar well so I think you're well covered here. :) Buena suerte. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elisa Posted February 9, 2010 Share Posted February 9, 2010 My family is Spanish/Cuban/American so I grew up hearing and speaking Spanish, but I couldn't tell you a single thing about what's what. Me too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matryoshka Posted February 9, 2010 Share Posted February 9, 2010 I agree with Elisa, the sentence as presented by CleoQc is perfectly fine. ¿Le has comprado el regalo a tu esposa? simply means Have you bought your wife the present? ¿Has comprado el regalo para tu esposa? means literally Have you bought the present for your wife?, which is practically the same. However, if you said ¿Le has comprado el regalo para tu esposa? the sentence would mean Have you bought him/her the present for your wife? which would imply a change in meaning. Whoops - quite apparently I am not as well-versed in the subtleties of Spanish grammar as I am in English... :tongue_smilie: The "le" sounded right, and "para" sounded right (probably because 'for' sounds right in English), but apparently together they're no good... So just to clear it up it for me so I don't lead my kids astray when I'm teaching them - the clarifying prepostional phrase for an indirect object pronoun always uses the preposition "a"? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ibbygirl Posted February 9, 2010 Share Posted February 9, 2010 Me too! :) cool. :) Asturias, las Canarias y la Habana aqui. y tu? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C_l_e_0..Q_c Posted February 9, 2010 Author Share Posted February 9, 2010 Hmm. so no one is diagramming sentences in Spanish? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Queen of Sheba Posted August 6, 2010 Share Posted August 6, 2010 Hmm. so no one is diagramming sentences in Spanish? Yes, indirect object pronouns ALWAYS take "a" and cannot take any other pronoun. "Le has comprado un regalo para tu esposa?" is unacceptable if you want to be nit-picky about the grammar. Two correct sentences: A) Le has comprado un regalo a tu esposa? (Have you bought your wife a gift?) And B) Has comprado un regalo para tu esposa? (Have you bought a gift for your wife?) English and Spanish grammar are the same in this regard. In sentence A, the "le... a tu esposa"/"your wife" function as an indirect object of the verb. In sentence B, "para" and "for" are prepositions and the "tu esposa/your wife" function as the object of the preposition. Hope this clears things up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jld Posted August 6, 2010 Share Posted August 6, 2010 No lo vi antes, pero gracias a Elisa por clarificarlo . . . no hay nadie mejor que un nativo para decirnos lo que es correcto en una lengua. Que suerte que tenemos mucha gente hispanohablante en este forum! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spock Posted August 6, 2010 Share Posted August 6, 2010 tengo una pregunta que mi profesor de Español no podia responder.En nuestro libro, tenemos esa frase: ¿Le has comprado el regalo a tu esposa? Has comprado es el verbo. No hay palabras por el sujeto pero es la segunda persona. El regalo es el complemento directo. a tu esposa es el complemento indirecto. Pero ¿que es Le? ¿Porque es tercera persona y no segunda? (I'm hoping I'm making sense in Spanish here...) Indirect object (¿objeto indirecto?—no sé los términos gramaticales en español) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shehmeth Posted August 6, 2010 Share Posted August 6, 2010 (edited) tengo una pregunta que mi profesor de Español no podia responder.En nuestro libro, tenemos esa frase: ¿Le has comprado el regalo a tu esposa? Has comprado es el verbo. No hay palabras por el sujeto pero es la segunda persona. El regalo es el complemento directo. a tu esposa es el complemento indirecto. Pero ¿que es Le? ¿Porque es tercera persona y no segunda? (I'm hoping I'm making sense in Spanish here...) CleoQc, The sentence is grammatically correct as it is: ¿Le has comprado el regalo a tu esposa? Le - es un pronombre de objeto indirecto - reemplaza a una palabra o frase que, en la oración, cumple esa función. Los pronombres indirectos son: singular: me, te, le; plural: nos, os, les. Se ubican delante del verbo (Le dieron una sorpresa, ¿Te envÃo una postal?), excepto con el infinitivo (vengo a pagarle la renta; voy a decirte la verdad) y el imperativo (dale otra oportunidad; préstame diez dólares). Definición Oficial (Diccionario de la Real Academia): Le= Es una Forma de dativo de 3.ª persona singular en masculino y femenino. No admite preposición, y en ambos usos se puede emplear como enclÃtico. Si te interesa saber mas sobre el Dativo (pero creo que esto quizás va mas allá de lo que están estudiando ahora) puedes chequear el siguiente link: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caso_dativo I posted the answer in Spanish, since you asked in Spanish – if you need the answer in English I can translate it later… Kate Edited August 6, 2010 by shehmeth forgot link Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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