Grammar Talk: Indirect Object Pronouns

As usual, the ambiguous constructions of Spanish and its differences with English has driven me to hit the grammar books, and this time it is to figure out why indirect object pronouns give me so much trouble.

Anyone up on his English grammar knows that an indirect object pronoun can replace any person or thing gaining from an action. Spanish indirect objects can perform this duty as well, so sentences like Le mandé la carta and Te digo la verdad are easy enough for English speakers to understand. In school we learn how to use Spanish indirect object pronouns from examples like these, so the connection is made that indirect object pronouns are used in sentences that would utilize the prepositions to or for in English.

One of the major differences with indirect object usage in Spanish, however, is that an indirect object can also replace a person or thing losing by an action—sentences that in English would utilize the prepositions of, from, or by. Examples from B&B include:

Mario le ha quitado a Ana. (Mario's taken Ana away from him)
Les han robado un millón de pesos. (They've stolen a million pesos from them)
Se le ha muerto un hijo. (A son of his has died)


The variety of relationships that indirect object pronouns can indicate sometimes leads to notably ambiguous sentences like Le compré un vestido, which can be read as "I bought a dress for her" or "I bought a dress from her." Similarly:


Cómprame algo (Buy something for/from me)
Ángel me robó una manzana. (Ángel stole an apple from/for me)

Although meaning is usually clear with knowledge of the flexibility of indirect object pronouns, sentences can always be rewritten to specify meaning, such as Le compré un vestido para ella.

Conclusion

As a native English speaker, I tend to specify as much as I can with prepositions like in the last example. However, I have been told by Ecuadorians that it sounds odd to them, and I have been advised to "use less words" on a number of occasions. Oh well, when in Ecuador...


Note: There are a number of other relationships that can be expressed using indirect objects, but those cases are much more confusing and I wouldn't attempt to describe them until I am sure that I completely understand them myself (although I'm not sure I'll be in Ecuador long enough for that to happen).