Lo vs Le

The other day I came across this sentence with Karen and couldn't wrap my head around it.

I understood that lo refers to the regalo and le refers to Juan, but I couldn't understand why

it was obvious that lo is wrong in this sentence when neither Juan or regalo is unknown?

Or in other words, why can't both sentences be correct? I posed the question to Jackie for

an event last night. This made it clearer to me.

Why is ‘lo’ incorrect in this sentence?

INCORRECTO: A Juan lo doy un regalo por su cumpleaños.

CORRECTO: A Juan le doy un regalo por su cumpleaños.

Lo is a direct object pronoun. (regalo)

Le is an indirect object pronoun. (Juan)

Direct objects receive the direct action of the verb. (regalo)

Indirect objects receive the benefit of or the effect of the action. (Juan)

In Spanish you almost always have to use the indirect object pronoun even when saying

‘a Juan’. For example:

INCORRECTO: A Juan gustan los tacos.

CORRECTO: A Juan le gustan los tacos.

That's the key, I just need to remember this. Likely now when I read and listen, I should pick up on this.

And for some comprehensible input: Los tacos de Juan!

Indirect Object pronoun

Those darn little words still mess me up so it's always good to review. Now that the Desafío is over I'm still going to blog, but I can keep them short and sweet just for my ownself. This is an example I pulled from Spanish Class with Jackie.

¿Qué hicieron ayer los monos en el parque zoológico?

Ayer los monos les tiraron la comida a los turistas!

• Direct Object: la comida, which receives the action of the verb. Answers the question, What did the monkeys throw? the food
• Indirect Object: les / los turistas, the recipients of the action of the verb. Answers the question, At/to whom did the monkeys throw the food? at the tourists.

les is the indirect pronoun for 3rd person plural, referring to the tourists, who received the action, that is, the throwing of the food by the monkeys

Simple right? On paper it is, using it in conversation is a different story.

And I end with a video of Pocoyo bailando el mono de alambre. I know it's a kid's show, but I still enjoy it. Still a kid at heart I guess?