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Why is ’le’used in this Spanish sentence? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| MixedUpCody Senior Member United States Joined 5256 days ago 144 posts - 280 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Mandarin | Message 1 of 7 26 November 2013 at 3:15am | IP Logged | ||
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In a BBC article about elections, I saw the sentence "Le sigue la candidata por el Partido Libre, Xiomara Castro de Zelaya, con 532.198 votos, el 28,83%." I know that the 'le' means 'he', referring to the other candidate, but I don't understand why it isn't 'lo'as he is a DO in this sentence, I would think. Any ideas? Here is the article, if it helps: BBC article.
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| 1e4e6 Octoglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4290 days ago 1013 posts - 1588 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Norwegian, Dutch, Swedish, Italian Studies: German, Danish, Russian, Catalan | Message 2 of 7 26 November 2013 at 4:40am | IP Logged | ||
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"Le" does not mean "he", it is the indirect object (complemento de objecto indirecto or
COI) of the third person singular, i.e. "to him", "to her", or "to you (Vd., formal)", or "to it". "seguir" takes indirect objects in Spanish, not direct objects like in English, so the entire verb phrase for seguir would be "seguirle a uno". It sounds weird in English, because directly translated it would mean "to follow to someone" instead of "to follow someone", but in Spanish there are verbs that take indirect objects instead of the direct object, like "decir": <<Me dice>> for "She tells me", but not the literal "She tells to me". Essentially it is the dative case in Spanish, instead of "lo", the accusative. Thus, the sentence basically says that that candidate follows the other one (indirect object even though in English the direct translation is the odd "The candidate follows to him"). Also there is another example in the first sentence of the article that more clearly shows the indirect object relationship ("seguir a" instead of "seguir" only): El candidato oficialista de Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández, del conservador Partido Nacional, sigue a la cabeza en las elecciones generales que celebró el país centroamericano este domingo, según datos oficiales y parciales que dan cuenta del 58% de la votación total. (bold font added by me) Edited by 1e4e6 on 26 November 2013 at 4:47am 6 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| MixedUpCody Senior Member United States Joined 5256 days ago 144 posts - 280 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Mandarin | Message 3 of 7 26 November 2013 at 4:47am | IP Logged | ||
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Thank you very much. That was extremely helpful. You're my hero. =)
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| Crush Tetraglot Senior Member ChinaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5865 days ago 1622 posts - 2299 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Mandarin, Esperanto Studies: Basque | Message 4 of 7 26 November 2013 at 7:32pm | IP Logged | ||
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I think "seguir" is generally followed by "a", even though it's a direct object. Here it seems to me just to be a case of "leísmo". In 1e4e6's other example, i think the "a" is actually part of the phrase "a la cabeza" - at the top, at the head, leading - and not pointing to a direct object.
From the Diccionario panhispánico de dudas:
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| nicozerpa Triglot Senior Member Argentina Joined 4326 days ago 182 posts - 315 votes Speaks: Spanish*, Portuguese, English Studies: Italian, German | Message 5 of 7 26 November 2013 at 8:40pm | IP Logged | ||
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In Spanish, we've got something called "A personal", the habit of using the preposition
"a" before an direct object if it's a person, that's why the verb "Seguir" (and many others) generally are followed by that preposition in those cases. I think the use of "le" or "lo" may change the meaning of this verb. For example, if I say "Le sigue Xiomara Castro", I understand that Xiomara Castro is placed after Juan Orlando Hernández (the candidate who won) in a list (for example, the results of the elections). But if we say "Lo sigue Xiomara Castro", I can imagine Hernández walking while Xiomara Castro literally follows his steps, walking behind him. 7 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Crush Tetraglot Senior Member ChinaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5865 days ago 1622 posts - 2299 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Mandarin, Esperanto Studies: Basque | Message 6 of 7 26 November 2013 at 9:25pm | IP Logged | ||
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Another instance where you would use "le" is when you follow somebody's something:
"La hermana de Miley Cyrus ya le sigue los pasos." "Le seguí la mirada." I think this might be related to what nicozerpa said, because in "Le sigue Xiomara Castro" perhaps what she's following isn't the actual person but something that person is doing. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| MixedUpCody Senior Member United States Joined 5256 days ago 144 posts - 280 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Mandarin | Message 7 of 7 27 November 2013 at 3:46pm | IP Logged | ||
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I didn't realize how complex this question could be. Thank you very much to all who answered, and especially nicozerpa.
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