9

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.

Improve this question
2
  • Maybe the answer by Nexus to What does “lo” in “(no) lo es” refer to? also applies here.
    – Gonzalo Medina
    Commented Nov 25, 2011 at 17:34
  • @GonzaloMedina intenté cambiar el orden de las palabras de la oración pero no logré encontrar alguna combinación donde el "le" se pudiera omitir.
    – dusan
    Commented Nov 25, 2011 at 18:01

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
2

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.

Improve this answer
4
  • So in the passive-voice sentence "le" can be omitted. What about the original sentence?
    – dusan
    Commented Nov 26, 2011 at 13:23
  • @dusan You can omit it in the original sentence, as shown in the examples at the bottom of my answer. If you omit it in the passive voice, there is a slight sense change . Edited for clarity.
    – Dr. belisarius
    Commented Nov 26, 2011 at 13:44
  • @belisarius you're welcome. :)
    – Alenanno
    Commented Nov 26, 2011 at 15:54
  • Thanks for this @Dr.belisarius ! Does that mean that I could say this? "El acusado le escribió una carta al juez."
    – capet
    Commented Nov 16, 2022 at 23:00

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.