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La madre le lava la cara a la niña.
In that sentence, why is the word "le" there? The sentence already has a indirect object ("a la niña"), but removing the "le" makes the sentence to sound unnatural.
Edit: Does this sentence sound right? Why/why not?
La madre lava la cara a la niña.
A few observations: you have a direct object and an indirect object in your sentence. Just go to the passive voice:
La cara (de la niña) es lavada por la madre.
So, "la cara" is the direct object. You can now replace the indirect object by "le"
La cara le es lavada por la madre.
If you omit "le", the subject disappears:
La cara es lavada por la madre.
so, "le" means "la niña", and can be omited in the original sentence.
From the DICCIONARIO PANHISPÁNICO DE DUDAS
d) Hay verbos que se construyen con complemento directo de cosa e indirecto de persona: El camarero sirvió la cerveza a Pedro; Robaron el bolso a María; El atracador pegó una paliza a la dependienta; El acusado escribió una carta al juez; El médico curó la herida al torero, etc.
