Pegar v Golpear object pronouns

Question

Hello, when I want to translate "they hit her" (occurring in the past for a period), it is translated as "le pegaban" or "la golpeaban".  Why is it an indirect object pronoun for pegar but direct for golpear?

Accepted Answer

Hola Katrina
Could you please let me know in which exercise you have this doubt?
Gracias
Silvia

Answer

Una observación muy astuta, Katrina. Me lo preguntaba y he llegado a la conclusión de que podría ser una cuestión de leísmo/loísmo y que cualquiera de las dos versiones es opcional. Creo que necesitamos la opinión de Inma o Silvia.

¿Nos ayudan, por favor?

Answer

Hola Katrina and Garry
 
With golpear it's OK to use a direct object pronoun to refer to the person who is hit: la golpearon, lo golpearon... 
However, with "pegar" this would be a case of loísmo and laísmo. The person that is hit is the indirect object (not direct)  I imagine this is because it's easy to add a direct object with this:
 "le pegaron una paliza" (they beat him/her up, they gave him/her a beating)
also: "les pegaron unos golpes", "le pegaron un cabezazo..."
Saludos
Inma