"He reads her a magazine."
Translation:Ele lhe lê uma revista.
26 Comments
Wouldn't "Ele le uma revista para ela" be much more common? I feel like no one uses lhe in casual conversation.
"Ele lê-la uma revista" was my rejected answer. I thought "lhe" was masculine third person singular dative pronoun and "la" feminine third person singular dative pronoun. The suggested answer indicates that "lhe" can be feminine too. Is that so?
"lhe" can refer to any thing: male, female, animal, plant or even inanimate object.
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.
Damn, I just realised none of this applies in BP. It's just that you mentioned the pronoun "la", and I got in EP mode. Whereas we say "Ele fá-la", they say "Ele a faz". Much simpler, as you see.
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.
Thanks for that, danmoller. Actually, in EP colloquial speech, one would say "Ele está a lê-lo", instead of "Ele lê-o".
Why is "Ele lê uma revista para ela" correct? To me the translation sounds more like "he reads a magazine for her."
But "he reads her a magazine" and "he reads a magazine to her" are the same.
I'm still not entirely sure why "Ele a le uma revista" is incorrect.
I believe "lhe" = "to her" and "a" = "her" And you read a book TO someone in portuguese, so it's "lhe" Correct me if I'm wrong
i wrote "ele lhe lê uma revista" and it is incorrect... i don't understand why for I am pretty sure I saw earlier that "lhe" goes before the verb... anyone can help me here ?
I have the same question, especially as "ele lê-lhe uma revista" was suggested by DL as a correct solution. Danmoller says above that "lhe" sounds ugly with "ler", but, apart from sounding ugly, is it really wrong in the order I wrote it ("ele lhe lê..")?
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)
Using of the subject pronoun "ela" as you have written is colloquial.
Edit: "para" should be included if it is used
I don't think so..... never heard it.
We certainly add the preposition:
- Ele lê para ela uma revista
More commonly:
- Ele lê uma revista para ela
About the "lhe" versions, they're very odd (at least in Brazil) for the verb "ler".
The colloquially accepted use of "ele/ela" is restricted to direct objects only:
- Eu a leio = Eu leio ela = I read it (being the "ela" version colloquial, not really accepted by grammar)
When "ele/ela" are used with prepositions, they are perfectly correct, but they're never used without the prepositions when indirect.
I'm still not fully clear on when to use "lhe" versus when to use "a/o", is there a memorable rule for this?
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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
I think you've got some answers for a similar case here: https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/32855663 =)
