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Buying and stealing from someone in Spanish with 'a' and 'le'

In English, the person you buy from, steal from or borrow from comes after the word from. The natural reflex is to translate that as de, which produces sentences like compré el coche de mi vecino. A Spanish speaker will usually read that as I bought my neighbour's car, not I bought the car from my neighbour.

Spanish treats the person who loses or hands over something as an indirect object. You mark them with a plus the person, and you normally add the pronoun le (or les, me, te, nos) as well. This works with everyday verbs such as comprar, robar, pedir prestado and alquilar.

Word list
comprarA1 to buy le compré el coche a mi vecino cogerA2 to take le cogí dinero a mi madre robarA2 to steal le robaron el móvil adquirirB1 to buy adquirir algo a alguien alquilarB1 to rent le alquilé el piso a Juan pedirB1 to ask for le pedí dinero a mi padre robarB1 to rob a mi abuelo le robaron arrendarB2 to rent le arrendaron la finca a un agricultor hurtarB2 to steal le hurtaron la cartera pedir prestadomB2 to borrow le pedí prestado el libro solicitarB2 to ask for le solicité una beca al ministerio tomar prestadomB2 to borrow se lo tomé prestado a Ana sustraerC1 to steal le sustrajeron el portátil
How it works

The pattern is: indirect object pronoun + verb + thing + a + person. The person can also come first, which is very common when you want to stress who was affected. The pronoun then becomes almost obligatory.

A mi hermana le robaron la bicicleta.
(My sister's bike was stolen. Literally: they stole the bike from my sister.)
Le compramos la casa a una pareja mayor.
(We bought the house from an older couple.)

The le and the a phrase point to the same person. When the person is already clear from context, the pronoun alone is enough: le compré el coche means I bought the car from him or from her. Rule of thumb: if English says from + person and something changes hands, reach for le ... a, not de.

The words
Stealing and taking

robar is the everyday verb in both of its senses, to steal and to rob. hurtar means theft without violence and is common in news reports. sustraer is formal and belongs to police and legal language. coger means to take and follows the same pattern in Spain.

Al turista le hurtaron la cartera en el metro.
(The tourist had his wallet stolen on the underground.)
Anoche le sustrajeron el portátil del coche.
(Last night his laptop was stolen from the car.)
A mi abuelo le robaron a punta de navaja.
(My grandfather was robbed at knifepoint.)
Le cogí diez euros a mi madre para el autobús.
(I took ten euros from my mum for the bus.)
Buying and renting

comprar is the basic verb. adquirir is its formal cousin, used for companies, museums and property. alquilar is the normal word for renting a flat or a car, and arrendar is more formal or regional and often used for land and property.

El museo adquirió el cuadro a un coleccionista privado.
(The museum acquired the painting from a private collector.)
Le alquilamos el piso a una señora muy simpática.
(We rented the flat from a very nice lady.)
Le arrendaron la finca a un agricultor del pueblo.
(They leased the farm from a farmer in the village.)
Asking and borrowing

With pedir, the person you ask is the source of what you want, so English says ask someone for something. With pedir prestado and tomar prestado you borrow something from someone.

Le pedí dinero a mi padre.
(I asked my father for money.)
¿Le pido prestado el cargador a tu hermano?
(Shall I borrow the charger from your brother?)
Se lo tomé prestado a Ana.
(I borrowed it from Ana.)
Watch out
  • de is not banned. It is correct for places: del coche, del bolso. It also expresses ownership, so compré el coche de mi vecino means I bought my neighbour's car. You may not know who sold it to you.
  • tomar prestado sounds more natural with de when the source is not a person, as in una palabra tomada prestada del inglés (a word borrowed from English). With people, pedir prestado plus le ... a is far more common.
  • Leaving out le is possible, especially in formal writing: adquirió el cuadro a un coleccionista. When the person comes first in the sentence, keep the pronoun.
  • alquilar works in both directions. Le alquilé el piso a Juan can mean that you rented it from Juan or rented it out to him. Context decides.
  • coger is everyday in Spain but vulgar in much of Latin America. There, use tomar or agarrar.
  • Verbs such as quitar, arrancar and confiscar follow the same pattern: le quitaron el pasaporte means they took his passport away from him.
Summary

When something passes from a person to you, whether you buy it, steal it, borrow it, rent it or ask for it, Spanish marks that person as an indirect object. Use le plus a plus the person, as in le compré la bici a Marta. Save de for places and for ownership.