Duolingo asks me to translate "Yo presento a los estudiantes"
I entered: "I present to the students"
It says I'm wrong, and that it should be: "I present the students" or "I introduce the students"
But wouldn't that be, "Yo presento los estudiantes" (without the "a" which I thought usally translates as "to")?
I'm a chilean native speaker and I disagree with Duolingo. That phrase can either mean "I'm introducing the students (to someone)" or "I'm presenting (some information) to the students"/"I'm giving a presentation to the students". When I first read the phrase I immediately thought of "I'm presenting to the students". Either answer should be correct.
If you say "I present to the students" you are implying that you will show something to the students.
Example: I present to the students the new book
"Yo presento a los estudiantes" means that you are introducing each and everyone of the students.
I agree with Duolingo on this one.
In Spanish, when the direct object is a specifically referenced person, it is preceded by the preposition "a" (called the "personal a"). This word has no English translation but is important in Spanish. You also use this when referring to a pet (I can only assume that Spanish recognizes the importance of pets in our lives). Note that "specific" does not necessarily mean named.
Examine the following examples
Yo necesito médico. I need a doctor.
Yo necesito al médico Gonzales. I need Dr Gonzales.
Yo levanto la mano. I raise my hand.
Yo levanto a la muchacha. I lift the girl.
If you wanted to use your entered sentence it would need to be
Les presento a los estudiantes.
In this case you are using a prepositional phrase (a los estudiantes) to identify the indirect object (les). Literally translated (excuse the terrible literal translation) it would be "I present to them (to the students)". Using indirect objects is entirely another topic of conversation so I will leave it at that.
