"Le deseo una buena noche a ella."
Translation:I wish her a good night.
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Why does this sentence need the 'le' - does not simply the 'deseo' and 'a ella' tell us who is doing/saying what to who?
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No. The sentence is grammatically incorrect. Look at the English translation of your sentence to have a better understanding:
"I wish a good night to she"
The sentence is grammatically incorrect because "ella" is a subject pronoun (subject pronoun references a thing that is performing an action) when in fact, an object pronoun is needed (object pronoun references a thing that is having an action performed upon it). "le" is an object pronoun, and it is necessary for this sentence to be grammatically correct. "a ella" is unnecessary, though it can be used to clarify the gender of the indirect object pronoun "le".
"Le deseo una buena noche" - This is sufficient, though the gender of the indirect object pronoun "le" is ambiguous. Adding "a ella" would simply clarify that it is a female being referenced by "le".
also, why is it 'le' and not 'la'? i thought in this case you use le for him and la for her?
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'a ella' is the indirect object. Therefore you use the indirect object pronoun which for he/she/it/you is 'le'. We add 'a ella' to clarify because 'le' doesn't tell you which person it is.
La and Lo are direct object pronouns for she and he respectively. It doesn't apply to this sentence.
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I have the same question. I understand that sometimes the redundancy is for emphasis, but I'm not grasping when it is required.
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I don't think 'le' can mean 'it'; le means to him, to her or to you. Indirect objects are people. I suppose you could refer to an animal as an 'it' but it is rare and most of the time impolite. I know I never refer to my cat as an it. 'I gave food to him'.
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DL doesn't accept "I wish a good night to her" though - that's what I put!
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Maybe this clears up some of it: http://www.elearnspanishlanguage.com/grammar/pronouns/redundantobjectpronouns.html
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Thank you. I started out offering comment in the spirit that maybe some discovery would actually be valid and helpful and perhaps would need to be addressed. I do not judge the usefulness, as I would assume you would decide. This places me in the position that I may refrain from, or reduce the frequency of comment. The social aspect of this experience seems to encourage free and open communication. If I knew what you can see, or how closely you are analyzing the performance of this program, it would certainly be helpful. What many of us may lack is that understanding that will only come when we become conversational and acquire a deeper understanding of the Spanish vocabulary. I acknowledge that some portion of my comments have been of a complaining nature. But I believe no comment at all is counterproductive. Once again, thank you for allowing me to be a part of this, and I will not cease in the belief in your stated objective.
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If the alternative solution is an accepted answer already I find it helpful if someone points it out in the comments so that I can use it, especially when it sounds better or is easier to say.
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Because its an indirect object pronoun. Think of it this way. "I wish" Incomplete thought right? We need to know what or who. So in this case it's a who. Who whom do you wish? To identify the whom we place it before the verb. The wish goes "to her" . If the verb answers the question "to whom" it is and indirect object pronoun placed before the verb and that is "le". At the end of the sentence adding "a ella" (notice it is a ella = to her) clarifies who the receiver of the action is because we don't know from 'le". Hope that helps.
Thank you, It helps me to learn the proper order in sentence construction also.
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Is the emphasis on 'a ella' because this sentence is out of context? Say this sentence was part of a paragraph and we already knew who he was talking about, the emphasis (a ella) can be left off correct?
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I thought that adjectives in spanish were supposed to come after the noun like "un perro blanco"... then why is it not "Le deseo una noche buena a ella?"
The "rule" of adjectives coming after the noun has exceptions, especially with the adjective "buen/bueno/buena", where it can come before or after the verb. One thing to mention, however, is that in the masculine case, if it comes before the verb you must use "buen" instead of "bueno". So for example you say:
Un buen hombre
Un hombre bueno
Una buena mujer
Una mujer buena
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Shahmir - there are exceptions and in some cases it may change the meaning. Here's a starter page dealing with adjective placement.
I am also thinking about this.
IMHO, you would only ever say "I wish she has a good night" if you are wishing aloud, otherwise you would use "I hope she has a good night." I think your solution is the best one
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I'm not sure what you're trying to say.
I could write down in my diary, say, "I wish her a good night. And then we part..." if I was recounting a meeting with a girl.
Moerover, "to wish someone a good night/ good luck" is a common way to say "Goodbye" in Hiberno-English. I think this is why I am getting confused, for example "as my sister was leaving the house I wished her good night/ good luck".
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ych01etc,: Some people say you can put the "a ella" anywhere in the sentence, but usually it goes at the end; it just seems to sound better.
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Why is it not "yo deseo" since the literal translation is "I wish a good night to her". I do not fully understand the rules for "Le", thank you.
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The "a ella" is not required, but is useful for further clarification. If you were speaking this sentence in a conversation in which the "a ella" were already identified, it would be unnecessary here. If this were a stand alone sentence with no other context, the "a ella" is useful to identify who the "le" is talking about. It's still not REQUIRED though.
'I wish a good night to her', shouldn't it be valid? What it exactly wrong with it?
the answers and questions here are super helpefull :) but i dont understand why it is "le deseo" and not "la deseo".. maybe i misunderstand.. but is "le" him/her and it? its not "le" if its male and "la" if its female? :/
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After reading all the posts and trying to understand the indirect/direct pronoun garbage I suddenly remembered why I hated English class so much. If only language could be more like math and actually make sense... sigh. Binary! Now there is a language that makes sense ;) I would say even base 8 math makes more sense. Oh the frustrations of grammar... yuck!
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What is the "le" doing here? Shouldn't the sentence have either "le" or "a ella"?
surely this is another way of saying the same thing without being so literal
