LLAMARLO vs. LLAMARLE

Sorry liss,

silly question for you but it confuses me 

why llamarle & llamarlo for call him 

like , i am going to call him , is there a trick here or can you use either .

thanks again ,

¡Hola VR143!

(I've split this out into a new thread just so that other users can easily find it too if they need it!)

This isn't a silly question! It's something that often confuses Spanish learners, because it has to do with object pronouns and something called leísmo.

Simply put, in standard Spanish, llamar “to call” takes a direct object. This means that you should use the direct object pronoun and say Lo llamo “I call him” or Voy a llamarlo “I am going to call him.” (You can find an example of this in our lesson in direct object pronouns.)

However, you may hear some native Spanish speakers use the indirect object pronoun instead and say Le llamo “I call him” or Voy a llamarle “I am going to call him.” This practice of replacing the direct object lo with the indirect object le is called leísmo; it's a regional phenomenon that mostly only crops up in Spain.

So unless you are planning to use your Spanish specifically in regions that use leísmo, it's best to study the standard Spanish rules and always use lo with llamar.

Saludos,

Liss