Using le and les = [to] it,him, her, them (indirect object pronouns)

Hola Ricky

Sometimes "a" has the same function as "para" (for), which is the case in this sentence:

"¿Quién prepara la fiesta a Sofía?" You could also say ""¿Quién prepara la fiesta para Sofía?"

In the second sentence you mention, "Nosotros les preparamos la cena a nuestros invitados.", the indirect object "nuestros invitados" is referred to twice: with "les" (to them) and with "a" (to our guests). Sometimes we admite the double indirect object in a sentence. Here are other similar sentences:

"Le he regalado una flor a Carmen" (I bought a flower for Carmen.)

"Les compré a los niños unos abrigos nuevos." (I bought the children some new coats.)

I hope this clarifies your doubt.

Inma

Hola Ricky! First of all sorry for our late reply. We need to use the preposition "a" because we have previously used "les" as an indirect object pronoun and this preposition "a" introduces an indirect object refering to people ("our guests") in this case. However, you can omit this pronoun and use the preposition "para" instead too, for example, you could say "nosotros preparamos la cena PARA ellos". Both options are valid with a slightly change of meaning, like in English. The first sentence "nosotros les preparamos la cena A nuestros invitados" means "we prepare dinner TO our guests" and the second one "nosotros preparamos la cena PARA nuestros invitados" means "we prepare dinner FOR our guests". I hope this helps you to understand better! Silvia.

¡Hola Daniel! The reason why "envía" has an accent on the "i" is because phonetically it is an hiatus and the accent breaks the diphthong making a three syllable word "en-ví-a". We do not have currently any formal lessons about the Spanish punctuation rules but we would like to create some in the future. Silvia

Hello Daniel

We will remove this bit of information from the lesson because, although, more commonly used to refer to people or animals, "le/les" can also refer to inanimate objects, for example "Le añadí sal a la comida" (I added salt to the food), acting also as an indirect object. 

Thanks for reporting this and sorry about the confussion.

Inma

¡Hola Daniel! Could you please explain a bit more your question? Gracias, Silvia.

Hola Susan

Lo, la, los and las are direct object pronouns, i.e pronouns that replace a person/people or a thing/things and they receive the action from the verb directly. Generally you spot them by asking the verb the question What? or Who?

See the following examples:

"Roberto compró pan" --> "Roberto lo compró" (What did Roberto buy? -bread [direct obj]

"Roberto llamó a Claudia" -->"Roberto la llamó" (Who did Roberto call?) -Claudia [direct obj]

lo and la are replacing pan and Claudia and they are both direct object pronouns.

Le and les are indirect object pronouns, i.e pronouns that replace a person/people (not things) and they receive the action from the verb indirectly. Generally you spot them by asking the verb "to whom"? or "for whom"?

See the following examples:

"Roberto compró flores para Claudia" --> Roberto le compró flores (For whom did Roberto buy flowers? -for Claudia, for her. [indirect obj]

"Roberto dio dinero a sus hijos" --> "Roberto les dio dinero" (To whom did Roberto give money? -to his children, to them. [indirect obj]

I hope this clarified your doubts. 

Gracias y saludos

Inma

When I answered this, I was going off the first green box that says le and les are not used for inanimate objects. But isn't this question asking for the word for "them"? Which are animate objects?

Hola Jamie This question is asking for the word for "them", which, like you said, it refers to animate objects (people), therefore it needs "les". In the lesson it says that you cannot use le-les for inanimate objects. I hope this clarified your doubt. Inma