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¿Por qué no les dio Lupe el dinero a Uds.?

In English, this sentence means:

Why didn't Lupe give money to you?

Why do we need to put "les" in this sentence?

Yay
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yashirq
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    You can drop it, because it refers to ustedes. We can say ¿Por qué no dio Lupe el dinero a ustedes? This is the same as saying ¿Por qué no les dio Lupe el dinero? (= a ustedes) – Schwale Jul 20 '16 at 16:46
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    Also, not a reflexive pronoun but an indirect object pronoun. – user0721090601 Jul 20 '16 at 17:24
  • Note: I've just realised the question above is different because the usage of pronouns with another pronoun ("a Uds.") and with a noun ("a su novia") are governed by different rules. For more info, see my answer on Why use "-las" in "esperándolas"?. According to what I state there, you can't drop the "les" here because Uds. is a personal pronoun, but I cannot tell how natural your sentence without the "les" sounds because I seldom hear anyone use Uds. at all in Spain. (1/2) – Yay Jul 20 '16 at 20:30
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    Anyway, it may sound okay here because the verb and the pronoun are far away from each other. If you put them closer, it doesn't sound that well anymore: ¿Por qué nos les dio a Uds. el dinero Lupe? sounds okey (maybe a bit unusual but not agrammatical), while ¿Por qué no dio a Uds. el dinero Lupe? feels plain wrong to me. (2/2) – Yay Jul 20 '16 at 20:31
  • @Ustanak Check out my previous comment. Any thoughts? – Yay Jul 20 '16 at 20:41
  • Yashirq - Note the definite article ("el") before "dinero". "Dinero" wouldn't normally take an article (no me queda dinero = I have no money left), so adding an article makes it a specific amount of money and/or for a specific purpose. Therefore, your English sentence should read "Why didn't Lupe give the money to you?" – Yay Jul 20 '16 at 20:46
  • Even more idiomatic 'why didn't Lupe give you the money?' – mdewey Jul 20 '16 at 20:59
  • @Yay I agree, but ¿por qué no dio a ustedes el dinero Lupe? seems awful but it makes sense. To me looks like an old usage of Spanish, but it still works. — I have an answer in mind. I'll post it later. – Schwale Jul 20 '16 at 23:21

1 Answers1

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¿Por qué no les dio Lupe el dinero a Uds.?

The majority of the native speakers I talk to say it sounds better and clearer with the "les", which, by the way, is an object pronoun, and is already indicated by a Ustedes. Deleting "les" might possibly render the sentence agramatical.

Please take note that "les" is not reflexive because it refers to "you (plural)", and Lupe was the subject of the sentence.

Cascabel_StandWithUkraine_
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  • @Gandalf I'm tempted to edit the question title to Why use "les" in "¿Por qué no les dio Lupe el dinero a Uds.?"? but that would invalidate a big part of your answer. Besides that, I don't think you can drop it (see question linked in the comments for references). Not only does it sound worse, but it also makes the sentence aggramatical. – Yay Jul 21 '16 at 13:18
  • @Yay I agree that it sounds better with the "les", and including a Ustedes sounds a little clumsy, but I don't know what do to with this post. I am being criticized for including material about the reflexive, but I honestly believed the OP had problems that needed to be addressed concerning that topic as it is often misunderstood. Now I have a big fat -1 sitting on an accepted answer, and that irks me because I cannot even delete it if I want to. – Cascabel_StandWithUkraine_ Jul 21 '16 at 18:40
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    @Gandalf Don't take it personally. The point is, even if you feel the OP would appreciate an explanation on a certain topic, answering something that wasn't really asked is problematic for several reasons: it hinders marking future duplicates (should it be a duplicate of the question or the answer?) as well as finding information on the topic, and it makes it less "upvotable", because by up-voting it it wouldn't be clear why it's being up-voted (do up-voters agree with the real answer or are they expressing they think it is a good idea to veer off the main topic of the question?). (+) – Yay Jul 21 '16 at 21:05
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    (+) If you feel the OP wouldn't be satisfied with just answering their real question, you can always add a few links and/or encourage them to ask a different question (which I don't think is necessary here because the "reflexive se" has already been adressed before). I recommend you edit the last part out and save it in case someone really asks something about "reflexive se". I think that would revert your current vote outcome. – Yay Jul 21 '16 at 21:06
  • @Yay Copy that, and understood. Done as you suggested, and many Thanks! That was an extremely astute analysis of the situation. – Cascabel_StandWithUkraine_ Jul 21 '16 at 21:16