Breakdown of El director le manda leer la partitura del violín.
leer
to read
del
from the / of the
le
to him / to her / to you (formal)
el director
the director
mandar
to order (to command)
la partitura
the sheet music
el violín
the violin
Questions & Answers about El director le manda leer la partitura del violín.
Why do we use the infinitive leer here instead of the subjunctive?
Both are actually correct! With verbs of influence like mandar (to order), permitir (to allow), and prohibir (to forbid), you can use an indirect object pronoun plus the infinitive, or you can use que plus the subjunctive. El director le manda leer is just a slightly more concise alternative to El director le manda que lea.
Why is the pronoun le used instead of the direct object lo?
In this structure, the person receiving the order is the indirect object, which is why we use le. You can think of it like this: the direct object (the thing being ordered) is the action itself (leer la partitura), and the director is ordering that action to him.
If I decide to use the subjunctive instead, where does the pronoun le go?
Why does the sentence say del violín rather than just de violín?
While partitura de violín would just mean generic violin sheet music, using the contraction del (de + el) implies a specific piece of music. In a band or orchestral context, it means the sheet music for the violin part of the specific piece they are playing.
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