This is really confusing: If someone says, "I bought a shirt for him" or "I bought a shirt from him." Do both of these get translated to:
Je lui ai achete une chemise
Please enlighten me. Thank you!
This is really confusing: If someone says, "I bought a shirt for him" or "I bought a shirt from him." Do both of these get translated to:
Je lui ai achete une chemise
Please enlighten me. Thank you!
This is an interesting question, Blaise. In fact, when you use the preposition à in -
acheter quelque chose à quelqu'un
it can mean both to gift something to someone OR to buy something from someone!
So if you want to be really clear, you have to change the preposition.
As Jim says, you can use 'pour' for a gift and 'chez' for a sale.
J'ai acheté une chemise pour Jacques = I bought a shirt for Jacques
J'ai acheté une chemise chez vous = I purchased a shirt from you ( your shop)
Hope this helps!
Bonjour de nouveau Blaise
"I bought a shirt for him" J'ai acheté une chemise pour lui (where lui is the object of the preposition pour)
"I bought a shirt from him." Je lui ai acheté une chemise.
First case lui is a stressed pronoun
Second case lui is an indirect object pronoun
Bonne journée
Jim
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