Quote:
Originally Posted by laepelba
I'm reading an article that uses the following sample sentence and attached note:
Busco un secretario que sepa francés.
(no personal a: it's not a definite person) Huh? I thought that any reference to a person or to a personal pet required a personal "a" except for with certain verbs like "tener". ??
So is my understanding wrong? Or is the author of the article wrong? Or is there an exception somewhere that I missed...?
Thank you! |
It is true that the personal "a" is used when referring to a person. But that's not always the case. It's only used when the direct object is someone you already know, someone in particular, or a pet, for that matter. It's
not used if the direct object is an
indefinite person.
In your examples the subject is looking for a person but that person is not someone he knows but "anybody" who can work as a secretary.
We say "Necesito un médico" but we don't say "necesito a un médico" because I'm talking about any doctor, not a specific one.
