Forum Rocket Spanish Spanish - Grammar Indirect Object Pronouns requiring clarification

Indirect Object Pronouns requiring clarification

dremelts

dremelts

Maybe I'm missing something but in lesson 4.2 it says "...if it's unknown or unclear to whom the indirect object pronoun is referring, it's a good idea to use proper nouns in addition to the indirect object pronoun." This seems to defeat the very purpose of pronouns as stated at the beginning of lesson 4.1: "...pronouns replace nouns previously mentioned to avoid unnecessarily repeating them." So, in the example: Le voy a llamar a Juan manana. If you have to specify that you are going to call John why even put the indirect object pronoun in the sentence since it makes perfect sense to simply say: Voy a llamar a Juan manana. Thanks, Dave
taalibeen

taalibeen

This only makes perfect sense because you are making the mistake all us gringos make at some point in the course of learning the language, trying to interpret the grammatical rules of Spanish in light of what makes sense to us in comparison to English. Here is an example using the sentence in question. Let's say you and I - who are not familiar with each other - are talking about John who we both know. At the end of the conversation, we mention that we should talk to each other again soon. Then I say: Le voy a llamar manana. Did I just say that I'm going to call you tomorrow, or was I referring to John whom we were talking about? Putting the "a Juan" in there clarifies who the "le" refers to. As for leaving out the "le" in favor of using just "a Juan," all of the latinos that I asked this very same question to some time ago, simply said it sounds lik something is missin. Just accept that it is that way, it's a lot easier than trying to make Spanish into what you feel it should be. And trust me, I know that from experience, and this very question was one of my experiences.
dremelts

dremelts

Thanks taalibeen, I'm glad I'm not the only one who has struggled with some of these concepts and I guess I will have to accept it if it sounds better that way to native speakers. But putting the indirect object pronoun ahead of the verb is just so cart-before-the-horse that by the time you realize you should use the pronoun it is too late. Dave

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