Le asusta el trueno

[Nfqufktc]

¡Hola!

1.
Examples from the Larousse Gran Diccionario:

Le asusta el trueno.
Thunder frightens him.
Le asustan las arañas.
He is scared of spiders. Spiders frighten him.

Examples from the Oxford Spanish Dictionary:

Nada lo asusta.
He’s not frightened / scared by anything. Nothing frightens / scares him.
Lo asustó con tanto hablar de casamiento
She frightened / scared him off with all her talk of marriage.

I would appreciate it if you could explain why the Larousse’s examles have the indirect object pronoun le instead of the object pronoun lo which is supposed to to be used with a transitive verb.

2.
Can the explanation be related to the passage from a grammar manual ‘Le/Les is preferred with psychological verbs, especially when the subject is an inanimate noun or a clause (e.g. molestar ‘to bother’, preocupar/inquietar ‘to worry’; also creer ‘to believe’, entender ‘to understand’)’?

So the two le below in fact stand for lo/la.

Le molesta la luz del sol.
The sunlight is bothering (whom?) him (lo).
Le preocupa que el niño pese tan poco.
She is worried because the boy weighs so little.
The fact that her child weighs so little worries (whom?) her (la).

3.
And would you agree that gustar cannot be put into this basket as it is different?
Le gusta nadar.
Swimming is pleasing to him (to whom?) (le)

Would you comment on these points?

Thank you.

[aleCcowaN]

1.
Examples from the Larousse Gran Diccionario:

Le asusta el trueno.
Thunder frightens him.
Le asustan las arañas.
He is scared of spiders. Spiders frighten him.

Examples from the Oxford Spanish Dictionary:

Nada lo asusta.
He’s not frightened / scared by anything. Nothing frightens / scares him.
Lo asustó con tanto hablar de casamiento
She frightened / scared him off with all her talk of marriage.

I would appreciate it if you could explain why the Larousse’s examles have the indirect object pronoun le instead of the object pronoun lo which is supposed to to be used with a transitive verb.


With verbos de afección psíquica both ways are possible, but we use le with inanimate objects, abstractions or when animate or lively things like thunderbolts and spiders are unintentionally causing it.

On the other hand, when there's an animate agent causing an effect intentionally or by direct action, we use lo or la accordingly, like in the wedding case.

Finally, the clause order is important

Le asustan las arañas
Nada lo asusta

but you can hear

Las arañas no le/lo asustan
Nada le asusta

Remember intention is important

Nada lo asusta, ni siquiera las amenazas de sus enemigos políticos.

You'll find these and other rules here (https://www.rae.es/dpd/le%C3%ADsmo#S1590507320071229843)

[Nfqufktc]

Thank you, aleCcowaN.