"Buscame algo para dormir" vs "sacate una foto."

[babymetal]

In the first one it says "look for something for me to be able to sleep" but in the second it says "take a photo of yourself." Can someone explain the difference? Is it the type of verb being used here? Or is it something to do with the object?

For example, if I say.

"Sacame una foto" that means, to my knowledge, take a photo of me.

But if I say.

"Me han buscado la medicación."

It means they have looked for the medication for me.

This is a bit confusing.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

You are right. If you look at the medication examples, the direct object and the indirect object seem to be rather obvious to locate.

- Búscame algo para dormir.
- Me han buscado la medicación.


In the photo examples, when you say "sácate una foto", the verb acts like a reflexive action ("sácate una foto a ti misma(o)"), even though it's not necessarily a reflexive verb like "peinarse", "lavarse", etc. So, this may be a particular case of an indirect object, and we also have a direct object.

When saying "sácame una foto", it's not a reflexive action anymore, but you still have a direct object and an indirect object pronoun.


When I learnt direct object and indirect object, I was taught to ask myself about the complements: "¿qué?" and "¿a quién?"

For your examples:

- Búscame algo para dormir.
-> ¿Qué se busca?
-- Algo. (Un medicamento.)
-> ¿A quién se le busca?
-- A mí.

- Me han buscado la medicación.
-> ¿Qué se busca?
-- La medicación.
-> ¿A quién se le busca?
-- A mí.

- Sácate una foto.
-> ¿Qué se saca?
-- Una foto.
-> ¿A quién se le saca?
-- A ti mismo(a).

- Sácame una foto.
-> ¿Qué se saca?
-- Una foto.
-> ¿A quién se le saca?
-- A mí.

This works for me most of the time. Also, another tip, if you can add "a mí" (or "a" + to whom or for whom the action is performed), then you have an indirect object.

- Sácate una foto (a ti misma).
- Sácame una foto (a mí).
- Búscame (a mí) algo para dormir.
- Me han buscado (a mí) la medicación.