A mi madre le da corte pedir ayuda en la oficina, así que me pregunta a mí primero.

In Spain, dar corte is a common colloquial expression meaning to make someone feel embarrassed, awkward, or self-conscious about doing something.

So:

• A mi madre le da corte pedir ayuda = My mother feels awkward/embarrassed about asking for help

A very useful pattern is:

• A alguien le da corte + infinitive

For example:

• Me da corte llamar por teléfono. = I feel awkward about calling on the phone.
• Les da corte hablar en público. = They feel embarrassed about speaking in public.

This expression is especially common in Spain. In more general Spanish, you will often hear dar vergüenza instead.

Yes, both refer to my mother, but this is normal in Spanish. It is called indirect object doubling.

In sentences like this, Spanish often uses:

• the indirect object pronoun: le
• plus the full phrase: a mi madre

So:

• A mi madre le da corte...

literally looks like:

• To my mother, it gives embarrassment...

But in natural English, we just say:

• My mother feels embarrassed...

Why use both?

1. le is the normal pronoun required by the structure.
2. a mi madre clarifies or emphasizes who we are talking about.

You will see this a lot:

• A Juan le gusta el café.
• A mi hermana le encanta viajar.

Because the action asking for help is the thing that causes the embarrassment.

The structure is:

• A alguien le da corte + infinitive

So:

• le da corte pedir ayuda = she feels awkward about asking for help

The infinitive in Spanish often works like an -ing form in English:

• Fumar es malo. = Smoking is bad.
• Me gusta leer. = I like reading / to read.
• Le da miedo conducir. = She is afraid of driving / to drive.

Here, pedir ayuda acts like a noun phrase: asking for help.

Because in Spanish, pedir is the verb used for asking for something, while preguntar is used for asking a question or asking someone.

So:

• pedir ayuda = to ask for help
• preguntar algo = to ask something
• preguntar a alguien = to ask someone

In this sentence, both ideas appear:

• pedir ayuda en la oficina = ask for help in the office
• me pregunta a mí primero = she asks me first

So the sentence means that she feels awkward about asking for help there, and because of that, she asks me first.

En la oficina means in the office or at the office, depending on what sounds natural in English.

It tells us the context or place where she feels awkward asking for help.

So:

• pedir ayuda en la oficina = to ask for help in/at the office

It most likely means she feels awkward asking for help from people at work or while she is in the office.

Así que means so, therefore, or which is why.

It introduces the consequence of the first idea:

• A mi madre le da corte pedir ayuda en la oficina, así que me pregunta a mí primero.
• My mother feels awkward asking for help in the office, so she asks me first.

It is a very common connector in everyday Spanish.

Compare:

• Tiene sueño, así que se va a dormir. = He’s sleepy, so he’s going to sleep.
• No entiende el correo, así que me llama. = She doesn’t understand the email, so she calls me.

Yes, me by itself would already be enough grammatically.

• me pregunta primero = she asks me first

But Spanish often adds the full phrase a mí for emphasis, contrast, or clarity.

So:

• me pregunta a mí primero

suggests something like:

• she asks me first
• she asks me, specifically, first
• she asks me before asking anyone else

This is very common with object pronouns:

• Me lo dijo a mí. = He told me.
• No te llamó a ti; me llamó a mí. = He didn’t call you; he called me.

Here, a mí gives extra emphasis.

Because mí is a prepositional pronoun, so it normally appears after a preposition, and here the preposition is a.

So the correct form is:

• a mí
• a ti
• a él / a ella / a usted

Examples:

• Me lo explicó a mí.
• Te toca a ti.
• Le dieron el regalo a ella.

You cannot say just mí here.

Primero means first.

In this sentence:

• me pregunta a mí primero = she asks me first

It suggests she asks the speaker before asking other people in the office.

Putting primero at the end is very natural in Spanish. Adverbs like this are often flexible in position, but the end of the sentence sounds very normal here.

You could also hear:

• Primero me pregunta a mí.
• Me pregunta primero a mí.

But me pregunta a mí primero is perfectly natural.

Yes, and the meaning would be very similar.

• A mi madre le da vergüenza pedir ayuda en la oficina.

This is more general and widely understood across the Spanish-speaking world.

The difference is mostly tone:

• dar corte = very common in Spain, often more colloquial, with a sense of awkwardness or social discomfort
• dar vergüenza = more neutral and more broadly used

So for Spain, dar corte sounds very natural in everyday speech.

Here, pregunta is in the present tense, and in context it usually means a habitual action:

• she asks me first

It describes what she generally does because she feels awkward asking for help at the office.

Spanish simple present can cover several English ideas, including:

• she asks
• she does ask
• sometimes she is asking, depending on context

But in this sentence, the natural meaning is habitual:

• she asks me first

Yes, especially because of dar corte.

The rest of the sentence is standard Spanish, but dar corte is particularly associated with Spain. A learner focusing on Spanish from Spain should definitely know it.

So this is a very natural Spain-Spanish sentence:

• A mi madre le da corte pedir ayuda en la oficina, así que me pregunta a mí primero.