In the following three examples why bother using the indirect object pronoun?
1. Jenny le está escribiendo una carta a su padre. Why plug in "le"? It seems perfectly clear without it.
2. Carlos quiere darles algo a ustedes. Why add "les" to the infinitive "dar" when ustedes is perfectly clear?
and
3. Le voy a llamar a Juan mañana. Simply saying "Voy a llamar a Juan manana" seems to make better sense.
This grammar stuff isn't easy! Thanks for the help!
Pete
Indirect Object Pronouns

BooniesPete
May 20, 2010

nohablo
May 21, 2010
[quo]*Quote from * BooniesPete
In the following three examples why bother using the indirect object pronoun?
[/quo]
Hola Pete. The quick answer to your very reasonable question is "Just because." :wink: Every language does things that seem strange to speakers of another language, and the *redundant indirect object pronoun* is one of those things in Spanish. If you do a web search for Spanish redundant indirect object pronoun, you'll probably find lots of sites that discuss this. Dorothy Richmond's excellent book *Spanish Pronouns and Prepositions* offers a much fuller explanation, but at the end she says: "A final reason for using the redundant construction is that this is the way it's done. Perhaps this is not a satisfying answer in the rational sense; however, all languages, like all people, have their distinct charms that defy reason."