Dudas con ejercicios sobre el complemento directo

Question

I'm studying Spanish pretty much on beginners level.

I have the following exercises :

Example (to understand the concept) :

¿Recuerdas esta canción? --> la recuerdo.

I have three sentences that, It doesn't sounds "right", I'll show the way and my answers, I'll be glad if someone could explain how to solve them and the solution.

1) ¿Nos ayudas esta tarde?

2) ¿Nos acompañáis a casa?

3) ¿Te invita Luis a cenar?

1) Since we have ayudas means that it's a tu (since ayudAS), and Nos is us.

therefore is should be in translation to english :

Can you help us this afternoon? -->Yes/No I can help you all ...

Si/(No no) te ayudais

2) Since we have acompañáis meaning its vosotros, and Nos is us.

therefore is should be in translation to english:

Can you (all) accompany us home? --> Yes/No We can accompany you all

Si/(No no) nos acompañáis

3) Since we have invita meaning its el/ella/Ud, and te is you.

Therefore is should be in translation to english:

Do you invite Luis dine --> Yes/No I invite him

Si/(No no), me invita

I'm not sure with my answers and I'll be very happy if someone could tell me if my answers are correct.

What more important for me is to understand how to approach this kind of questions? Do I approach this right? Is there an easier method?

Any tip/methods will be appropriated Thanks

Answer 1

It's a bit strange, you seem to have understood the first two sentences, but the only proper answer is the third one. Let's review the sentences:

• ¿Nos ayudas esta tarde?

A group of people is asking a single person to help them. So in the answer that single person must use the first person singular form in the verb (ayudo), and the second person plural in the complement to address that group of people (os). So the answer is os ayudo.

• ¿Nos acompañáis a casa?

A group of people is asking another group to go home with them. The person answering will speak on behalf of the group (first person plural, acompañamos), and must address another group in the complement (second person plural, os), so we have os acompañamos.

• ¿Te invita Luis a cenar?

A person is asking another person if a third one is inviting him/her to have dinner. The second person will have to use the third person singular in the verb (invita) and the first person singular in the complement (me), so we have me invita.

This kind of constructions are the same in English, or possible your own mother tongue if it is other than English. So if you have trouble with these exercises, you can translate them into your language, calculate the answer and finally translate back the answer. Do this until you get the grasp of it, then stop translating and try to calculate the answers directly.

Answer 2

1) ¿Nos ayudas esta tarde?

Will you (tu) help us this afternoon?

Sí les ayudará. = Yes I will help you (all). or No, no les ayudará.= I will not help you (all). You could also answer using present tense and say Sí les ayudo, or No, no les ayudo.

In these responses "You (all)" is 'les" because it is the object of the verb, not the subject. If you were to use OS as another poster suggested that would be appropriate if the actor or subject was the group, however the subject is the speaker, Yo.

2) ¿Nos acompañáis a casa? I am not versed in vosotros, but will give it a shot. Will ya all accompany us to (our) house? "our" is implied.

Sí les acompañamos (present tense) or Sí les acompañaremos. (future tense) Yes we are accompanying you all or Yes we will accompany you all.

It is Nosotros who is the speaker/subject and so "OS" should be "les" because they are the objects.

3) ¿Te invita Luis a cenar? Are you sure you have this question right? It is a little weird in it's wording. as it reads it "Te" is the object "invita" is the Ud form of the present tense, which would indicate that Luis is the actor, and that the speaker is asking if Luis his inviting you to dinner, but that really should be worded "Luis te invita a cenar? = "Did/ is Luis inviting you to have dinner?" and also it would most likely be worded in the past tense "Luis te invitó a cenar?"

the present tense of UD "invita" can also be used as a command directed at Tu, but that would be "Invita a Luis a cenar." So "Sí, Luis me invita a cenar." or more likely "Sí, Luis me invitó a cenar."

side note "invitar" means invite and pay, so if it is a dinner in a restaurant and not a house, saying "I invite you" means "I'm inviting and I'm paying."