Indirect object pronouns - the extra Le

[cafeconleche]

I heard an intro to a spanish podcast and I'm getting stuck on its meaning.

The intro says 'Dile adios a todos esos momentos incomodos...' - ie if you listen to the podcast you will not have uncomfortable moments anymore. But I don't get the 'le' at the end of Di. Does it refer to momentos incomodos, or is it a reference to the listener in the Usted form?

I understand some verbs (Decir, Enviar, Dar, Preparar etc) take an extra Le when the sentence has an indirect object in the 3rd person (sing or plural), ie Juan le dio el libro a Sara, but can this also apply when referring to objects/ideas (eg momentos incomodos)? I am tempted to think not as it is called the personal A but not sure. Help much appreciated!

Also does anyone have a list of the verbs which take the extra Le in the 3rd person?

[Rusty]

The "extra" indirect object pronoun is required in some constructions, and is often included when not required (like when the indirect object is stated).

The indirect object will always be introduced with the preposition 'a'. This is not a ' personal a'. The introductory 'a' is required even if the indirect object is not a person, in other words.

The podcast introduction you heard should have used the pronoun 'les', since 'todos esos momentos incómodos' is plural.

Any verb that takes an indirect object can be suffixed with 'le' in the imperative mood, hence dile.
There are many verbs in Spanish that can take both a direct object and an indirect object. You wouldn't want to see the l-o-n-g list.

Here is the reference for how the verb decir is used:
decirle algo a alguien

The algo in your sentence is adiós. It's the direct object. Whom you are saying adiós to, or what you're saying goodbye to, is the indirect object (introduced with 'a'). The indirect object pronoun le, or les (if the indirect object is plural) may be included.

[cafeconleche]

Muchas gracias Rusty. A great explanation, just what I was looking for.

I think where I was getting stuck was that I thought IDOs could only replace people. I have seen the decirle algo a alguien construction before and hence thought the le would usually accompany the personal a (because the IDO is 'someone'). But, I guess whatever the IDO is (person, thing, idea), then a le or les can be used to refer to it in certain types of sentence.

[Rusty]

Yes, dile adiós al acné; diles adiós a las manchas; dile adiós a esta porquería.

Again, the 'a' that introduces an IO is not a personal 'a', even if it is a person.

[cafeconleche]

Ah yes of course the personal A is only used when the direct object is a specific person. Got it.

[Rusty]

Just so you know, there are times when a direct object is introduced with the preposition 'a', even when it isn't a person. This is done to distinguish the direct object from the subject. This is discussed here.

[cafeconleche]

Thanks very much, didn't realise that!