Tengo unas preguntas

[Esperar]

Tengo unas pregunas acerca de español. Aquí están unas frases que no entiendo totalmente. ¿Podríais ayudarme, por favor?

Le doy a mi maestro de español un millón de dolares para su cumpleaños.

Ahora, traduzco esta frase como: I give to my teacher a million dollars for his birthday.

Nadie le da a nadie nada en diciembre porque no hay celebraciones en ese mes.

Entiendo esta frase como: Nobody gives anything to him in December because there are no celebrations in that month.

¿Podría alguien explicarme estas frases completamente en inglés? No las entiendo muy bien.

Gracias.

[wrholt]

Originally Posted by Esperar

Tengo unas pregunas acerca de español. Aquí están unas frases que no entiendo totalmente. ¿Podríais ayudarme, por favor?

Le doy a mi maestro de español un millón de dolares para su cumpleaños.

Ahora, traduzco esta frase como: I give to my Spanish teacher a million dollars for his birthday.

Nadie le da a nadie nada en diciembre porque no hay celebraciones en ese mes.

Entiendo esta frase como: Nobody gives anything to him anybody anything (or anything to anybody) in December because there are no celebrations in that month.

¿Podría alguien explicarme estas frases completamente en inglés? No las entiendo muy bien.

Gracias.

Are you having trouble understanding the combinations of word that I have underlined?

Le doy a mi maestro de español un millón de dolares para su cumpleaños.

Nadie le da a nadie nada en diciembre porque no hay celebraciones en ese mes.

The underlined words ("le" before the verb, and the prepositional phrase "a [noun phrase]" after the verb) are the indirect objects in these sentences.

In these sentence, the indirect object is the pronoun 'le', while the prepositional phrase 'a mi maestro de español' or 'a nadie' clarifies exactly who is referenced by 'le'.

The second sentence starts with (subject verb indirect object direct object):

Nadie le da a nadie nada...

Nobody gives anybody anything...

[Esperar]

I didn't really understand that very well, but yes, I am having problems with those combinations.

[Caballero]

Originally Posted by Esperar

I didn't really understand that very well, but yes, I am having problems with those combinations.

It's just that Spanish uses them, but in English they would be quite redundant. So it's best not to translate literally.

[Esperar]

So in this context, I can essentially ignore them? Do I need to use them myself?

[Rusty]

I don't think we know what you're having problems understanding, exactly.

If it is the combination of indirect object pronoun and indirect object, you would be safe to use them both. That is perfectly good Spanish.

If you do omit one, choose the more redundant of the two (the one that would be understood without it being said).

[Esperar]

Le doy a mi maestro de español un millón de dolares para su cumpleaños.

"Le doy" means "I give him," right? So to me, it translates directly as, "Him I give my teacher of Spanish a million dollars for his birthday." It just sounds odd to me. Maybe I'm misunderstanding something?

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by Esperar

Le doy a mi maestro de español un millón de dolares para su cumpleaños.

So to me, it translates directly as, ...... It just sounds odd to me.

That is because you are translating literally, word for word. Things will usually sound odd if you do that. Your sentence is correct because Spanish duplicates the object here, but English does not.

Generally, two languages never translate word for word in a manner where it does not sound odd.

[aleCcowaN]

I'm giving him -my teacher of Spanish- a million dollars for his birthday.

"I give him" translates directly as "Doy él" what not only is odd: it doesn't make any sense at all.

Strange Babel this world of many a language!

[Esperar]

Originally Posted by Perikles

That is because you are translating literally, word for word. Things will usually sound odd if you do that. Your sentence is correct because Spanish duplicates the object here, but English does not.

Generally, two languages never translate word for word in a manner where it does not sound odd.

OK, thanks. I understand now.