"She reads you a newspaper."
Translation:Ella te lee un diario.
33 Comments
Ella le lee un diario was accepted here. What is the difference if le vs. te if any?
492
"Le" would be the more formal "usted" version of you. "Te" would be the more informal "tu" version of you.
Le could be referring to "usted" as used to formally address someone. "te" is the informal objective pronoun
I recently heard that it's not good to have two l sounds that close together (le lee). The video I watched said in cases like that you'd change the le to se so it would be se lee instead.
Is this correct? I could be remembering wrong so I'll have to try to track that video down again. I might have misunderstood when to do that too.
That rule is only used with pronoums, when you have two pronoums together then le changes to se. We say se lo lee instead of le lo lee
I thought that ustedes was plural, for you all, or you guys. The sentence asked to translate for a singular person.
- 492
"Ustedes" is plural. "Usted" is singular. "Tú" is singular but used with someone you know well (family, friends, etc). When dealing with patients (Soy una enfermera), we've been instructed to use the usted form until given permission to be less formal.
i say "ella te lee un periodico." DL gives "le lee un periodico." then i come to the discussion and above it reads what i originally spoke. Oh DL!
I could b wrong, but I think that the "te" goes before the verb and then you can put "a tú" at the end, but the "a tú" isn't necessary. "Ella te lee un diario (a tú)". Someone correct me if I am wrong.
- 492
Actually, I put "Ella te lee un diario a tú." Duo corrected it to "Ella te lee un diario a tí." (Apparently that's a later lesson :-)
Yes LazCon, yet another sort of pronoun is post preposition! Mi and ti are different here. Of course not used so much as no clarification - as I was saying above re a usted to show it's not a el or a ella - is needed for me and te because obvious. Might put in for emphasis I guess. Just to add to the fun if the preposition is con (with) you have to say conmigo or contigo!
the le refers to the newspaper not the person. this is a confusing issue and not well presented here. kind of redundant, but is actually saying she read it the newspaper to you. i think one of the solutions is actually wrong
No, completely wrong, people! 'le' is the necessary indirect object which can mean to him, to her, to you (usted, formal). Further information eg 'a usted' can be added to clarify. If the informal you, then 'le' is replaced by 'te' meaning to you (tú version, informal).
- 492
You didn't get it wrong for using formal. You got it wrong because the formal possessive object for usted would be "le." "Le" can be used for him/her or usted (formal.)
- 492
For Duo's purposes it probably wouldn't matter. In real life, it would depend on whether the "you" being read to was a close friend/family member/someone you knew well. Then you would use the 'familiar' "te". If you didn't know the person well or if it is a more formal acquaintaince, use "le".
If your question relates more to 'What determines whether relationship is formal vs familiar?', I'd have to defer to native speakers. I work newborn ICU. We are counseled to use formal until given permission to become less formal. (Once the initial shock of having a premature baby fades, and you get down to the day to day, nurses are often seen as extended family).
Laz, you might want to correct the above. I'm sure you meant to say "formal" not "familiar" in 2nd paragraph.
- 342
Ron Seymour: Lily - you need to use TI and not TE. TI is a prepositional pronoun used here after the preposition 'a'. The purpose of 'a ti' is to reinstate the indirect object pronoun (te) and is added in order to give emphasis and clarity to the statement.
duo is inconsistent, te is well accepted in this sentense but not in another another when i tried to say "ella te lee un periodico a usted".
