Repeated “a”, and “dativo de interés”(1) In this sentence the personal “a” is repeated: “ A Pedro y a Pablo les cantaron una canción por su despedida”.
However in this sentence the second “a” is omitted: “ (Les) cantaron una canción a Pedro y Pablo por su despedida.”
Is the second “a” arbitrary or is there a rule for when to omit it?
(2) I notice two uses of IO pronouns in the examples and questions.
The first is the common usage such as giving something to someone, saying something to someone, or taking something from someone. This usage always has a direct object.
The second usage is from a lesson from a higher level, called the “dativo de interés”, which has an entirely different meaning altogether. Instead of always having a DO and giving the DO to someone, there may not be a directobject at all (intransitive verbs), and the IO simply emphasizes that someone is affected by the action.
Sometimes there is a DO: Mi hija pequeña no me come nada.
and sometimes there is not: Ayer nos cayó un buen chaparrón.
Inma’s answer to Thea reflects this type of usage.
Spanish dativo de interés - specific use of Spanish indirect object pronouns
So there are different layers to the usage of the IO.
Could you make a lesson contrasting the different types of IO usage? It could be useful for many of us.
I assume in the example above salir, the infinitive is not used with después because después is being used as adjective not as a proposition?
When does the -o ending in the third person singular of the pretérito indefinido get a tilde en when does it not? P.e. "he spoke" = habló, but "she said" = dijo. Has it something to do with regular and irregular verbs?
When we are referring back to people or persons in Spanish both words are feminine. So by translating, "for those arriving" it would have to be "las que llegan" no? If not what masculine word is "los" referring back to? Thanks.
I´m having fluctuating percentages for topics that I´ve created a notebook for and was correct on for over 30 times in a row. The percentage goes up and down but never significantly improves, even after getting them correct 10 times in a row it will drop from 97% to 91%. Can the percentages consistently reflect progress?
The two topics in particular are:
A0: Using vivo en + [city/country/region] to say where you live in Spanish
A0: How to say I have / you have in Spanish (possession)
(1) In this sentence the personal “a” is repeated: “ A Pedro y a Pablo les cantaron una canción por su despedida”.
However in this sentence the second “a” is omitted: “ (Les) cantaron una canción a Pedro y Pablo por su despedida.”
Is the second “a” arbitrary or is there a rule for when to omit it?
(2) I notice two uses of IO pronouns in the examples and questions.
The first is the common usage such as giving something to someone, saying something to someone, or taking something from someone. This usage always has a direct object.
The second usage is from a lesson from a higher level, called the “dativo de interés”, which has an entirely different meaning altogether. Instead of always having a DO and giving the DO to someone, there may not be a directobject at all (intransitive verbs), and the IO simply emphasizes that someone is affected by the action.
Sometimes there is a DO: Mi hija pequeña no me come nada.
and sometimes there is not: Ayer nos cayó un buen chaparrón.
Inma’s answer to Thea reflects this type of usage.
Spanish dativo de interés - specific use of Spanish indirect object pronouns
So there are different layers to the usage of the IO.
Could you make a lesson contrasting the different types of IO usage? It could be useful for many of us.
Experimenté una mezcla de repulsión y compasión por el protagonista, cuyas acciones estremecedoras se entrelazan con la dura realidad de la España rural.
My dictionary seems to indicate that actos would be more appropriate here as it translates as 'deeds'. I'm not clear about the difference.
Gracias
to summarise some of the info provided in the comments.
am i right to say the below:
Le encantan los documentales de historia, que/lo que/lo cual (yo) encuentro aburrido = I find [the fact] that she loves history documentaries boring.
Le encantan los documentales de historia, que/los que/los cuales (yo) encuentro aburridoS (agreement of the adjective is necessary here) = I find history documentaries boring.
meaning to say, que = lo que = lo cual are interchangeable and replaceable with no change in meaning. same for que = los que = los cuales ?
I did struggle to understand why "se recordaba" was in the singular in "... solo se recordaba a los difuntos el 1 de noviembre" [= "the deceased were only remembered on November 1st"].
At first, I was tempted to make it plural to agree with "difuntos". As a passive construction, I thought it could be compared with "se venden apartamentos de lujo en la playa" - (given as one of the examples in Forming the Spanish passive with se (la pasiva refleja) ... which is the lesson we get referred to).
Anyway, I was also "scratching my head" regarding the use or non-use of the "personal 'a' " in a passive sentence of this nature - [Compare "Se buscan secretarias con experiencia" in that^ same lesson] ..
I then looked in my grammar book [by Butt and Benjamin], and discovered that this is part of a construction which evolved comparatively recently in the Spanish language - in which the use of the "personal 'a' " makes a singular verb necessary even when the [passive] subject is in the plural.
I thought gustar was modified by the thing being liked (vs the person/people doing the liking), but when I chose gustan for liking the horse races I was marked wrong.
Find your Spanish level for FREE
Test your Spanish to the CEFR standard
Find your Spanish level