Direct Object vs. Indirect Object
 

One thing that always is difficult for me when using Spanish is knowing when to treat the object as a direct object and when to treat it as an indirect object. For example, If I were to say "I bothered Charles" Charles is the direct object in that sentence. But I was reading a BBC Mundo article today and it had a sentence like this "La foto que le molestaba a Striesand..." In English, a sentence cannot have an indirect object without also containing a direct object. I know that we have various prepositional phrases such as "to...", but we do not usually consider these as indirect objects. So, is it proper grammar to say "la foto que molestaba a Striesand" or does Striesand have to be used as an indirect object? Also, is there a way to know what verbs treat their objects as direct and which treat their objects as indirect? Because earlier in the article, it had a sentence "El veredicto no favoreció a la cantante." using cantante as a direct object. Thank you for the help.

Hola, Nomenclature:

Perdone que le responda en español: ahora me pilla bastante cansado como para redactar de una forma medianamente inteligible en inglés...

En primer lugar, consuélese, este tema trae de cabeza a los propios hispanohablantes y siempre trae parejo un mar de preguntas.

Existen los siguientes tipos de verbos:

1) Transitivos "puros" => Van con objeto directo.
2) Intransitivos "puros" => Van con objeto indirecto.
3) Transitivos/Intransitivos => Pueden ir con objeto directo o indirecto.
4) Pronominales => [Déjemoslos aparte]
5) Reflexivos => [Déjemoslos aparte]

Bien, basta de cháchara. Los verbos "molestar", "incordiar", "preocupar", "inquietar", "favorecer", largo etc., pertenecen a los denominados "verbos de afección psíquica" (Grupo 3). Éstos pueden marcar una persona como OD o OI, esta decisión dependerá de la región/país y de factores contextuales. En ciertos casos se produce un cambio de significado, por ejemplo "lo pegó" (to paste) y "le pegó" (to hit) , "lo encantó" (to bewitch) y "le encantó" (to enchant).

Para desgracia nuestra, al toparnos con un verbo desconocido no hay ninguna forma de conocer con anterioridad si se comporta como transitivo, intransitivo o ambos. Así pues, la única solución viable proviene de practicar, memorizar y ojear un diccionario: tr./intr.

No se le ocurre jamás fiarse de los ejemplos presentados en diccionarios y otros libros, sobre todo aquéllos procedentes de editoriales españolas; pues tienen la mala manía de utilizar objetos indirectos con verbos transitivos debido a su arraigado vicioleísta.

Un saludo cordial.

¡Le doy muchas gracias a Julvenzor! Usted me ayudó inmensamente.

Spanish objects (direct, "indirect", pronominal) have a much wider range of uses that English objects (direct, indirect, reflexive). Some examples from Butt and Benjamin (4th Ed., 2004) that I have adapted:

Me han visto = They've seen me (direct object)
Me dejó una finca = (S)he's left me an estate/(S)he's left an estate to me (indirect object)
Me ha aparcado el coche = (S)he's parked the car for me (indirect object in Spanish, prepositional phrase in English; "(S)he's parked me(?) the car sounds off to me, which suggests that "for me" is not an indirect object.)
Me compró una agenda = (S)he bought a diary off me/from me/for me (indirect object in Spanish, but only "for me" can be an indirect object in English, as "She bought me a diary" (indirect object) can mean only "for me", never "off me" or "from me".)
Me sacaron tres balas = They took three bullets out of me. (indirect object in Spanish, prepositional phrase in English; "They took me three bullets" is wrong.)
Me han quitado a mis hijos = They have taken my children away from me OR They have taken me away from my children. (In Spanish either may be direct or indirect objects, although there is one of each. In English one may be a direct object, but the other cannot be the indirect object.)
Me tiene envidia = (S)he's envious of me OR (S)he envies me. ("Envidia" is a noun and the direct object of "tiene", while, "envious" is an attributive adjective and "envies" is a verb.)
Me tiró una bola de nieve = (S)he threw me a snowball (at my request, so I could catch it) OR (S)he threw a snowball at me (as a joke, to surprise me).
Me encontraron mil pesetas = They found 1000 pesetas on me (I had it, they found it)OR They found me 1000 pesetas (I didn't have it; they found it elsewhere, either to give to me or on my behalf).
Me echaron una manta = They threw a blanket over me. (They threw me a blanket means something else.)
Voy a comprarme un helado = I'm going to buy myself an ice-cream. (Spanish pronominal with reflexive meaning, English reflexive.)
Siempre me pone pegas = (S)he always finds fault with me.
Me rompió el brazo = (S)he broke my arm. (Spanish often shows who owns/posseses a direct object by means of the indirect object; English requires marking the direct object with a possessive adjective.)

Thank you wrholt. This list was really good.