Grammatical question about 'ud. se la monta a el'

[mwtzzz]

My wife, who is Colombian, was in Costa Rica recently and the car she was in got into an accident which was the fault of the other driver. I asked how she she handled it and she told me:

"yo se la monté a ella"

(where "ella" refers to the other driver).

I understand the meaning of this, in English we would say "I gave her a piece of my mind" or "I chewed her out" or something like that. Other examples are:

"Ud se la montó a ella" (past tense)
"Ellos se la montaron a el" (past tense)
"Yo se la monto a el" (present tense)

My question is about grammar. What on earth is going on here? What's "se" for? Why "la" in every case?

[poli]

Montarse is a reflexive verb. La is the pronoun, and a ella clarifies the pronoun.

[mwtzzz]

Originally Posted by poli

Montarse is a reflexive verb. La is the pronoun, and a ella clarifies the pronoun.

Yes, but you'll notice that she says "la" for everything, whether the pronoun is "el" "ella" or "ellos." And furthermore, you'll notice it's "la" instead of "le" ....

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

"Se" is an indirect object pronoun for the third person (singular and plural), and it's redundant with "a ella". We do that sometimes, this time it's for emphasis and clarification.

If the indirect object had been "yo", "tú", "nosotros", "se" would have changed to:
- Me la montó a mí.
- Te la montaron a ti.
- Nos la montaron a nosotros.

"La" is a direct object. It substitutes "la bronca" or whatever the original idea is behind "montársela a alguien".

[mwtzzz]

Angelica. Thanks, now it makes sense. The "la" refers to "la bronca" or something with a similar meaning, which is why it isn't changing gender. Basically the way the Colombians use it is: "to bother someone" or to "give someone a hard time". Another example is: "Mi jefe me la monta todo el dia".

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

I see. Sometimes, we use direct object pronouns (mostly "lo" and "la") without a specific meaning, but it can be easily understood by the listener:

- ¡Que la/lo pases bien!
Have a good time!

- Me la/lo hicieron muy difícil para darme la licencia.
They gave me a hard time to give me the license.

- Se las da de muy culta pero nunca ha leído un libro.
She pretends to be highly educated, but she's never read a book.

(In Mexican slang)
- Ya la regué. (Me equivoqué. Cometí una tontería.)
I screwed up.