Breakdown of No los dejó descansar.
no
no, not
descansar
to rest
los
them (masculine direct object)
dejar
to let / to allow (informal)
Questions & Answers about No los dejó descansar.
Why does the pronoun los come before dejó instead of being attached to descansar?
When you have a conjugated verb followed by an infinitive, you generally have two choices: put the pronoun before the conjugated verb (No los dejó descansar) or attach it to the infinitive (No dejó descansarlos). However, with causative verbs like dejar (to let) and hacer (to make), placing the pronoun before the conjugated verb is by far the most natural-sounding choice for native speakers.
Why do we use los here instead of les?
In this sentence, the people being allowed to rest are the direct object of the verb dejar. Because they are receiving the action of "letting" directly, we use the direct object pronoun los (them). If the second verb had its own direct object (for example, "He let them read the book"), the people would become the indirect object, and you would use les instead.
Why is descansar in the infinitive form instead of being conjugated?
How do we know the sentence means "He didn't let them" if there is no subject word like él?
The verb dejó is the third-person singular form in the past tense (preterite). Without extra context, this could mean he, she, or formal you (usted). The English translation uses "He" because it comes from a specific conversation or story, but standing alone, "She didn't let them rest" would also be a perfectly correct translation.
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