"He reads her a magazine."
Translation:Ele lhe lê uma revista.
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No problem, mate. Btw, you're mixing some things up. Let me clarify: "la" is only used in what we call the "direct complement" (what), which here is "a magazine", not "her". That is the "indirect complement" (to whom). And even then, only in certain cases. Allow me to give a few examples:
- Ele lê o jornal. Ele lê-o. (He reads the newspaper. He reads it.)
- Ele lê a revista. Ele lê-a. (He reads the magazine. He reads it.)
- Ele come a sopa. Ele come-a. (He eats the soup. He eats it.) [BUT!]
- Ele faz a sopa. Ele fá-LA. (He makes the soup. He makes it.)
- Ele vai comer a sopa. Ele vai comê-LA. (He will / is going to eat the soup. He will eat it.)
This happens due to euphony. "faz-a" and "comer-a" would sound terrible, because those verbs end in "r, s or z" (and you also would use it after the pronouns "nós, vós" and the adverb "eis"). Just another example. You can contract both pronouns in one word, such as:
- Ele fai fazer a sopa à sua irmã. Ele vai fazer-lha. (He will make soup for his sister. He will make it for her.)
Sorry if I got a little carried away, and this is more information than you what you cared for. Well, just wait to mix all of this with other verb tenses. That will be really fun! Lol. Don't sweat if you don't get all of this, I actually was the only one to get 20/20 in a test exclusively about this, in high school.
It does apply to Brazilian Portuguese. Not with "ler", because it sounds ugly. But it's not used very often.
When or not to use this kind of pronoun is something not well ruled, but you are absolutely right about the direct and the undirect complements. And the changes to the "o/a" because of the ending of the words.
If preposition is needed, you use "lhe" (for third person). If not, use "o/a".
See:
Verb "dar" (to give). You give something TO somebody. So: dê-lhe o carro (give the car TO him).
Faça-lhe um favor (do a favor TO him/her) - A preposition would be needed.
Faça-o (do it) - Because there is no need for preposition.
Now, when it does not demand a preposition, you use "o/a". Pegue-o (take it/him). Pegue-a (take it/her).
Peguem-no (you(all) take it/him) - Another example of changing to avoid weird sounding.
First of all (not trying to run, but telling the best solution): ler + lhe (in any order) is a strange usage, but I couldn't say it's wrong. We use "ler para alguém" instead.
About the position of "lhe".
In Brazil, people would rarely mind if you put it before or after the verb. Often they prefer it before in spoken language.
The formal grammar rules, though, state that you should not start a sentence with those, and they should be put before the verb only when certain "attractive" words are there.
The sources I can find are not quite clear whether "ele" should attract "lhe" or not.
Once I read "personal subjective pronouns" should not attract it, and once I read the opposite....
Both should be just fine when talking to a Brazilian person. (The sound of "ele lhe" is quite hard to say :p, and that counts in spoken language)
1913
If lhe means him or her (indirect object), how can we tell that this sentence means that "he reads HER a magazine" and not "he reads HIM a magazine"? In Portuguese, can you not add "a ela" onto the end to clarify (as in Spanish)? The dictionary hints even give (a ela) after lhe as if implying that.
Thank you