Afectar transitive verb

Inb c.A1Kwiziq community member

Afectar transitive verb

Buenas días 


I understand Afectar is a transitive verb, which requires a direct object (without a preposition).

I saw these sentences:

La nueva ley no afecta al pequeño empresario.

La falta de oxígeno afecta al cerebro.

I'm curious to know why these two sentences use a preposition "a".


Muchas gracias

Asked 2 weeks ago
InmaNative Spanish expert teacher in KwiziqCorrect answer

Hola Inb 

Afectar is a verb that admits both with and without the preposition a when you have a direct object that is a thing. So you can also say "La falta de oxígeno afecta el cerebro."

Here's what RAE says about the preposition a in that case: 

"Es opcional el empleo de la preposición ante nombres de cosa cuando funcionan como complemento directo de algunos verbos que significan daño o provecho y que se construyen normalmente con un complemento directo de persona: El tabaco perjudica (a) la salud; La humedad afectó (a) los cimientos del edificio."

Here's the whole article (you can scroll down to 1.2.6)

Saludos cordiales

Inma

Inb c.A1Kwiziq community member

Muchas gracias 

Afectar transitive verb

Buenas días 


I understand Afectar is a transitive verb, which requires a direct object (without a preposition).

I saw these sentences:

La nueva ley no afecta al pequeño empresario.

La falta de oxígeno afecta al cerebro.

I'm curious to know why these two sentences use a preposition "a".


Muchas gracias

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