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

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

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.

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.

:)