That Extra "Le" -- The Hangnail of Spanish

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IN THIS VIDEO:
Have you ever seen an extra "le" and wondered, "What is THAT for?" Me too! I wondered about that extra "le" for almost 20 years! But not anymore. I finally know the deal with that extra "le". And you can too. Just watch this video!
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[@ArturoStojanoff]

Juan dio el libro a Sara doesn't necessarily sound wrong to me, as a native Spanish speaker, but it's something you'd read in Don Quijote or the Mío Cid, it sounds old. Like saying "thou art". You can do it and get understood, but you won't hear it said by Spanish speakers on a day to day basis.

[@MS-tz1ml]

I’m just glad someone made a video talking about the extra “le” so I know I’m not crazy. It really was driving me nuts and I feel better now.

[@marnw2592]

Me too. I asked all my teachers and they never could explain it to me.

[@googlable]

Same here. He didn't really explain the reasoning behind it, but he definitely did give me more confidence.

[@Th3Unsusp3ctedOn3]

This is the most helpful video I've seen on the extra "Le" this makes so much sense now haha

[@Husam.dheisat]

haha "Le" seems 100% logical now 😂😂

[@binarioochentaycinco4791]

after watching many of you videos i cannot understand why you have less suscribers (and views) than ButterflySpanish. Your explanations are much shorter and much better. I get much more out of watching your videos.

[@malharjajoo7393]

Haha females get more likes on the internet. This guy is great and concise, he definitely deserves more likes

[@maharudra947]

Ana also good

[@kalbeser2648]

The answer is simple. Butterfly spanish is for beginners. This channel is for intermediate learners. There are more beginners than there are intermediate learners. Even when butterfly covers intermediate topics she presents it in a (painfully) introductory way

[@randommemes345]

@@TheUksDarkest true dat

[@danielblue4460]

@@kalbeser2648 most intermediates just gave up...

[@tobikrutt]

I GET IT!!!!! I was using "le" correctly with or without direct object pronouns about half the time, but what I was missing was a SIMPLE RULE to keep it straight. Yay! Juan le dio el libro a Sara. Les dieron un regalo a los niños. Le envié una carta a mi amiga. Le dije un secreto a mi hermana. Whoopee! Maybe I'll actually remember this now.

[@melvinmadedx1658]

gottlos7 you just busted her bubbled.

[@eclivitv3193]

"I have no clue what you're even talking about..." I laughed so hard at that!

[@KarenJ214]

ecliviTV me too!

[@jorgeacosta9051]

I legit was waiting for him to say something revolutionary, and ended up choking on my fish

[@eclivitv3193]

Right! It was the buildup!

[@adh212]

Same hahahaha

[@hollyxie4059]

I didn't understand it first time (a while ago). Now I completely understand it.

[@wallawizardz]

Thank you! This helped a bunch! You deserve much more recognition for the work that you do

[@MrNapoleon1801]

Audible after this Quickie: "Ohhhhhhh". The balance makes sense!

[@nishita6881]

You don't know how much I needed this! I was literally losing my mind. Muchas Gracias Spanish dude❤️✨

[@afablebenedict3044]

Le is mostly use for dar, decir and gustar and other verb like gustar and the rest is lo, la,

[@soiplaythegame]

I had to listen a couple of times because of the word rate, but I really liked the explanation. Good job.

[@fckyoutubeshandlesystem]

Juan le dio el libro a Sara... Juan le dio el libro a Sara... Juan le dio el libro a Sara... Juan le dio...

[@elspanishdude]

Hahahaha. I love it. I really do that kind of stuff sometimes!

[@binarioochentaycinco4791]

now do an mp3 file repeating that sentence so we can play it on repeat mode all the day ;)

[@fanimeproductionst.v.3735]

Juan gave the book (to her/him/it )to sara

[@scentered]

Absolutely fabulous!!!! That extra little bugger "el" has been like an itch I couldn't scratch!!!! Aaarrggggh! But now - no problema. John le dio el libro a Sara. yaaaaay

[@Santi-wj7cp]

As a Spanish speaker, I would recommend you not to worry too much about our redundancies... they were already used by romans 2.000 years ago 😜

[@zari564]

can you pls make a video about the "WOULD'',like haría...

[@pamelaschembri2145]

FINALLY! Finally! Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

[@cwtckness]

You’re absolutely great at teaching Spanish, never give up “

[@Anran07]

Your two days spent on figuring this out is totally worth it.

[@ivanwu2965]

Soooo helpful!! I have been struggling with the damn extra le like forever... Thank you!!

[@user-zw3rg2go4o]

You are amazing, and so are your teaching techniques. A lot of questions I have had while learning Spanish and found 0 convincing answers to are covered here clearly and simply. I usually don’t leave comments; however, you are one of the few that makes one want to do it. I hope your teaching reaches more people out there soon. P.S. I’ll be waiting for 1m subscribers special celebration.

[@Faustoverdenova]

Por fin!! Una explicación puedo entender.

[@silverfire222]

"Una explicación *que* puedo entender" And also don't forget that in Spanish we use 2 different exclamation marks, one for opening the exclamation ( ¡ ) and another for closing it ( ! ) (although many people in the Internet don't use the opening mark, but that it is not correct). So the sentence would be: ¡¡Por fin!! Una explicación que puedo entender ;)

[@scottokkc]

Amazing! You really have a handle on explaining stuff. I've been trying for years to figure out many Spanish sentence structures and have been scratching my head on most of them.This is the first time I haveReally begun to understand! Thank you

[@ejswbradshaw1]

I love your videos and online classes. It makes learning Spanish easier and helps me to understand the "why". Thanks :)

[@kemalsonmez847]

İ like this man. He is so natural. and İ Learn many that ı was confused about. Thank you.

[@elspanishdude]

Ahhh, thank you Kemal!

[@paulbradford6475]

"Keep the balance." That was the key to understanding the use of "Le". It's almost musical in its application.

[@melissajames1254]

Thank you for this. This was exactly what I needed.

[@boopdatgood4915]

this made so much sense!!! will need to watch 100x to cement it in my brain but I totally understand something I wasn't even aware of before

[@lorivanetta3]

This was so confusing to me. Thanks for your amazing explanation.

[@silverfire222]

It's true that in Spanish we tend to use redundant pronouns. But not using them it is not wrong, just unusual. In the example that you give, "Juan dio el libro a Sara" is correct, although it sounds a little weird because usually all people use the "le". Furthermore, I think that what you say about that the "le" is for emphasizing can lead to misunderstandings, because the extra pronouns are almost always used, not just for when we want to emphasize. In fact, I would say that those pronouns don't have a true meaning, because they are used even in situations like "Yo me como mi bocadillo", which translated literally would be "I eat myself my sandwich" and has no sense. The true meaning is "I eat my sandwich". Also that pronouns can be even more confusing for Spanish learners because they have different meanings. For example, when I say "Le compré un coche a Juan", it can mean that "I bought a car for Juan", and also "I bought a car from Juan". So, when you listen/read only that sentence, you can't know if Juan is the recipient of a very good gift, or if he is a car seller.

[@tobikrutt]

Regarding the example of "me como mi bocadillo": By coincidence, about a week ago in Mexico someone actually used a phrase that was something like "me como una botana." I was confused by this--why the pronoun? The reply was that they were using "comerse" (reflexive--to eat something up) versus "comer." So the "me" in this example is actually a reflexive pronoun, not an indirect object pronoun.

[@silverfire222]

Yes, what I wanted to say with that example was that in Spanish we use meaningless pronouns in our sentences. It's is something that Spanish speakers say just because we grow listening and reading it, but when you start to think about it, you realize that it has no sense.

[@tobikrutt]

Totally agree! Just the fact that many verbs can be used as reflexive can be confusing, since sometimes a reflexive version of a verb has an entirely different meaning than the non-reflexive version (acusar/acusarse; desenvolver/desenvolverse). So if a verb is used in its reflexive form, I'm not always sure if it just indicates that the subject in the sentence is performing an action on itself, or if there is a more significant meaning change.

[@howardplotkin7287]

silverfire222 the letter "a" used in your sentence is the personal "a". It does not mean "to". That's why "le" is mandatory. The correct sentence would be "Juan le el libro a Sara". The name Sara may be excluded if the other party to the conversation knows who the "le" represents. But I believe proper grammar requires the indirect object pronoun "le".

[@chewee2k]

So, in your example "Le compre un coche a juan" (sorry the tilde is not working), how would you make the statement to clarify whether Juan is the recipient or the seller?

[@espr7564]

Another very informative and funny video thankyou Jordan you're a star!!!

[@taliasiegel2192]

I like this video! Thanks. I think that the balance is still there, we just have to think outside the box. At first, you mentioned that the repetition of "a+pronoun" is there for emphasis, for specificity. So in a sense, using someone's name (Sara) is exactly that- emphasis and specificity. So when you think about it, it kind of makes sense. They seem to lay more stress on specificity, in the sense that they also use the definite article more than we do (I like cats - LOS GATOS).

[@14rrook]

Your explanation of this weird concept was so easy to follow that I am in awe. You have true talent and skill for teaching! Thank you for all your effort in making these videos. 😁

[@scottlarson5980]

Great video. I wondered about the same thing. Have you done videos about, lo que or así, those always baffle me.

[@nedlalley6314]

Thank you so much. I have been learning for a year now. I go to a group that includes natives. I would say for example from my reading: Les daba los buenos dias a su gato y a su perro. The dog and cat are identified, why the les?. No one could explain it. Now I can do my reading and other learning with a whole new perspective

[@lioneyezzz]

Ned Lalley yes no one can ever properly explain... that's why I'm always confused.

[@morgenphillips960]

"I just made it up. But it totally works!" Jajajaja. Es verdad.

[@_Xenophon_]

Look, this video is almost 3 years old now, but I have to get this off my chest. Maybe I am wrong, but the reason why "John le dio el libro a Sara," is weird is, because "John dio el libro a mí," is perfectly fine (note the lack of the indirect object "me"). In other words when it's to me "me" is not required, but when it's to Sara "le" is required. I doubt anyone will read this, but the fact that this wasn't addressed bothered me, since this exact topic been bugging me since I started learning Spanish.

[@Biometrics]

I read it. Thank you for sharing this insight!

[@anthonyjackson8561]

Finally, an explanation for the use of "le" that makes sense! Thank you!

[@CharliesSpanishJourney]

All I can say is thank you 🙏

[@lo3341]

The Spanish Dude, you are great!

[@hollyxie4059]

Great logical reasoning. everyone would learn it by heart after watching this.

[@analagringa4500]

You are effortlessly hilarious! This makes so much sense!

[@alex.sand1r]

Keep it the videos bro! They really help refine my Spanish.

[@bacardimgtow4505]

one explanation that I heard was that it simply sounds better and its a more natural sounding sentence

[@angelt9862]

Brilliant. Could never be explained any better than this. ¡Punto!

[@grlkemistry987]

Great video thanx very well explained! Could you do one as well but on the uses of "Se"? That one is just as confusing for me! Gracias

[@MsKreynold]

Damn Spanish dude. Killed it 🤙🤙

[@Bit-while_going]

It's actually not confusing after you explained it. Before you did, I was wondering "who is le?" So afterward I simply knew who it was and maybe also that's a clue on why they try to make it clear.

[@Elif.-7]

I laughed so hard when you talked about your Colombian friend 🤣🤣

[@pjhurd1725]

You are a great teacher! A teacher among teachers! Gracias por todo lo qué haces! Sigue siendo tú!

[@bladezenna1]

Just stumbled across your videos on "Lo and "Le" today. Thank you so much for your clear explanation on both. They are so helpful. The only thing I would ask is if you could slow it down a little when speaking. I feel a little bit dizzy trying to keep up. 🤯😉 I've subscribed and will watch all your other videos. Keep up the good work. 😃👍🏼👌🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

[@darrenklein6090]

Thank you, this was excellent.

[@marcosreal11]

Here is an explanation: The "le" is used so that we know there is a direct object in the sentence and so that we can tell indirect objects apart from direct objects. These incomplete phrases help us see the idea: "Juan le dio a Sara" means that Juan gave something (which is left out for now) to Sara. "Juan dio a Sara" means that Juan gave Sara to someone (who is not stated for now); perhaps Sara is a baseball player and he is trading her with another team. "Dio Sara a Juan" means the reverse, that Sara gave Juan to (an omitted) someone. "Le dio Sara a Juan means that Sara gave (an omitted) something to Juan. When we see "Juan le dio el libro a Sara", the "le" clarifies that he is giving the book to Sara and not the other way around, which would be nonsense. Same with "Le dio Juan a Sara el libro". I'm not sure how it works when there is are three people involved, as in "Juan le dio a Sara al otro entrenedor". Is he giving Sara to the other coach or is he giving the other coach to Sara? Perhaps the order matters in this case. "Juan dio a Sara al entrenedor" doesn't make sense (without the "le") because it has two direct objects.

[@roseduryee]

Super curious now if the rule applies to direct objects too. I just answered a friend, "vale, te la guardo la ropa" because it felt right, but I think "te guardo la ropa" might be more correct.

[@sinisternightcore3489]

Very helpful! Now I know why I need to use le, even though I don't speak any Spanish at all.

[@lindasmith6668]

Jordan your brilliant! I get it! The pronoun balances against the indirect object! Hey-eee! Thanks Jordan. This was a block in my understanding. Thank you so much ☺

[@carolynmeigs6875]

I think maybe if you think of it this way. "John gave the book to her, to Sara." If you lose that comma, it doens't make sense in English either.

[@rahalayoub5670]

But do we use it with verbs?

[@jeromy-wb2wn]

So for me this wasn’t all that confusing once you clarified abt using le the other ways. It was just being specific only using someone’s name this time...

[@allegrataylor7133]

Nice shirt ham man

[@nelidagarcia7412]

Great video! Can you eliminate the need to use 'le'' by saying : ¿Puedes poner abono en las flores? vs ¿ Puedes ponerles abono a las flores? I think both sentences mean the same.

[@martingray6275]

Well Done! Thank You

[@guillermomaita2624]

I think in the spanish wikipedia this situation it is perfectly adressed. Spanish is a language sometimes complicated, just because some sentences are only built that way to sound better. es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complemento_indirecto One thing that it is bothering me, it is that some of your examples are "teaching examples" that no one uses in real life. As: "Yo le compre un helado a él" I bought him an ice cream. In spanish we would usually say "Le compre un helado". "Yo te pise a ti." I stepped on you "Te pise". Redundancy is important, but usually only people who is learning the language for the first time use it. The example: "Yo le compre un coche a sara." It is not redundant. Why? Because the indirect object is "le" and "a sara" is a complement of the indirect object nor the indirect object per se. A sara it is just to explain who is "le". In english maybe doesn't make sense but in spanish does. Because usually a normal person will say: "Le compre un coche" and then someone could ask, to who? "a Sara" I failed so many times spanish in school even being a spaniard that all this stupid things were firmly ingrained in my mind

[@marianab6676]

Perfecta explicación. Mi profesora de inglés siempre me "retaba" por querer traducir de un idioma al otro. Al principio me molestaba, pero tenía toda la razón. Intentar entender otro idioma traduciendolo literalmente es un gran error. Además de que gramaticalmente se olvidó de unas cuantas cosas.

[@googlable]

No I'm sorry you're wrong... "Yo le compre un coche a sara", "sara" is not complementary... It would be if we wanted to say "I bought her a car", and then "Le compre un coche a Sara" would be normal and not confusing (Sara here is just for clarity / emphasis). He explains that at 7:05 - 7:30, check it out again. But we simply want to say "I bought a car to Sara" (or "I bought Sara a car") - the subject is known from the beginning. So when we want to translate this specific sentence to Spanish, this is where the weirdness comes in (7:34).

[@ML-dp1tg]

THANK YOU SOOOOO MUCH!!!! I HAVE BEEN SOOO FRUSTRATED WITH THIS 🤪

[@kiorq]

What is you already know who "Le" is, do you have to still add "a sarah" at the end? Example: Friend: Que Juan le dio a sarah? Me: Juan le dio el libro. Would that work?

[@SevenMilliFrog]

I think it would as long as you know the context

[@amandaferreyros4082]

Friend: que le dio Juan a Sarah? *

[@RamilCastillo1640]

Gracias por la información.

[@angelicaalto6593]

Where do you get your amazing T-Shirts?

[@annebecker28]

The Spanish dude is awesome

[@elspanishdude]

Thank you!

[@afablebenedict3044]

The LE is very easy to understand. Just use LE for the verb dar, decir and gustar and the rest are lo, or la.

[@SWABManutius]

I learned that your "weird" 'le' is only required when the indirect object is animate (personal-'a' style). The balance thing is interesting, though.

[@tobbyn.8810]

Le singular Les plural(latin america) Os( spain)

[@samhussein9100]

Tysm, i didn't even notice that it's not just le, but it's also les and os

[@funlanguages7922]

Juan to her he gave the book to Sara. Juan gave the book to Sara to Sara

[@TheOconr003]

Fantastic!!

[@lolaa336]

you are the boss man! no more hanging "le" por mi muchas gracias

[@mattgamin8729]

you cracked the code to our brains!

[@whybecuzimme]

As always, awesome video. Thanks

[@joeltl25]

That was extremely helpful, THANKS!

[@martinkullberg6718]

This made my brain go 🤔🤯🍝 Also I am not an native english speaker. My first language is Dutch. So it also took focus to grasp the english sentence s function.

[@nelidagarcia7412]

Can you also say ¿Me le puedes poner abono al las flores?

[@alexisonfirebg]

Oh God, dude, you are a blessing!

[@DominicVictoria]

Estoy escuchando A TI

[@nosuchanimal]

excellent explanation!

[@myammohamed3645]

NECESITAMOS VÍDEO SOBRE EL SUBJUNTIVO ,PORFA !

[@Lovemy3ms]

Thanks !!!!!!

[@DaGGeRz69]

It is also worth mentioning that this is a throw back to Arabic as the le is the prefix used as "to" خوان اعطي الكتاب لساره Juan a'ta (gave) el ketab (the book) le (to) Sarah

[@IanEvans]

I spoke with my Spanish student (I'm a teacher) and I said Juan le dio el libro a Sara. He said correct. Then I said how about Juan lo le dio a Sara he then said no and that it should be se and not le. I argued that the le was pertaining to Sara. He said No the se was for Juan....at this point my head exploded. I am even more confused now.

[@nicedog1]

Muchas gracias 😊

[@johnbass7551]

Very good points

[@raymondravinsky6478]

Excellent🤣 Thank you👌👍

[@butlermj76]

I am cracking up at that shirt though! Is that not funny to anyone else? Just think of some Hispanic guy was walking around the US with a shirt that just said HAM in big bold letters on it. lmbo!!

[@BenSullinsOfficial]

Jordan me dio conocermiento a mi

[@WhisperedShadow123]

Ooooooooooo. Finalmente!!!! This was legit driving me mad. D;

[@jantemchavez1563]

Me gusta la content.

[@barryyoung9500]

Now I remember why I hated school...at least it would have been fun flunking if you were my teacher!

[@shaffikkabbani8170]

Every time you say "from somebody who speaks your language" in mind I say "I don't think so " but now I was thinking what if he does. So I was wondering do you speak Arabic?:D

[@yogispanish2157]

So, just to make sure I understand, is this only in cases where an emphasis is being added? In other words, if one was already having a conversation with a friend about Juan and Sara, and simply wanted to say, "Juan gave the book to her," and no emphasis was needed because the context is already understood, is it okay in that context to simply say "Juan le dio el libro?"

[@kovingtonschreiber670]

Yohan Spanish .

[@eclivitv3193]

Yes, you can say that, and you can also say "Le dio el libro" because both persons are already understood.

[@silverfire222]

You can say "Juan le dio el libro a Sara" if you want to say who got the book, or only "Juan le dio el libro" if you don't. You can also say "Juan dio el libro a Sara" without the "le", and it would be grammatically correct, but can sound weird to native Spanish speakers.

[@howardplotkin7287]

Yohan Spanish yes

[@themaster-jp6sp]

1 thing i noticed is that "le" can refer to clothes. not technically a person as i thought. but ive seen it a few times now.

[@c.martinez1409]

Talks as if he just discovered the ultimate way to explain things....

[@pamalogy]

¿Jordan me enseñó a mí?

[@screaming8363]

In a way is the word "le" kind of like the word "had"?🤔

[@TheMaru666]

No , it isn't . They have completely different functions .

[@lindsayevans9543]

OMG this video is hilarious

[@rycallery]

Sometimes it seems like the le is not needed. For instance: Acosté a los niños y luego me acosté yo. Why is it not Les acosté a los niños

[@kieranmartin536]

I think it is because 'a lost ninos' in this sentence is a direct object and not an indirect object. There is no indirect object in your sentence. What did you lay down? = a los ninos ( direct object)