Le tiene miedo a los truenos

[Tyrn]

Hi,

From Duolingo:

El Sr. Bigotes se escondió debajo de la cama porque le tiene miedo a los truenos.

Where does le belong? To los truenos?

[Rusty]

The antecedent here is el Sr. Bigotes.

[Tyrn]

Thanks!

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Sorry, but this time it's a frequent misuse of the pronoun "le".
Even when the right pronoun is "les", because it's the "truenos" the cat is afraid of, speakers say "le" because they find it more euphonic.

These are actual lines I've seen on the press:
- Nunca le digas esto a tus padres.
- ¿Qué pasa cuando le das chocolate a los lomitos?
("Lomito" is a recent slang word to talk about dogs. It comes from the action of caressing their backs. An animal back is called "lomo".)
- ¿No sabes qué hacer cuando le da hipo a tus hijos?
- No sabía lo que hacía cuando le abrí la puerta a los abogados.
- La empresa no le pagó a sus trabajadores.
- No le exigió a los jugadores y el resultado es que perdieron.
- ¿Por qué no le reclaman a los bancos?

It's something our old teachers were always trying to correct, but unfortunately, many speakers seem to find the singular "correcter" than the plural.

[elchocoano]

Thanks, Angelica!
Glad that you confirmed this problem once again.
Una zorra le echó el ojo a unas uvas
by Cabrera Infante is another example that bothered me for a long time.

I see this everywhere now.

[Rusty]

@Tyrn: I should have caught that. Sorry!

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

It's much more common than I'd like.

[Tyrn]

Pregúntele a los cajeros, señora.

Is it another example of the same?

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Yep. It's the same.

"Pregúnteles a los cajeros." Would be the correct grammar. Yet, this usage is so common, that I'm not sure it's incorrect anymore.