Breakdown of Le he dado el pésame al viudo.
a
to
le
to him / to her / to you (formal) / him (direct object, male person)
viudo
widowed / the widower
dar
to give
Questions & Answers about Le he dado el pésame al viudo.
Why does the sentence include Le at the beginning when it already says al viudo at the end?
In Spanish, it is completely standard—and usually required—to include the indirect object pronoun (le) even when you explicitly name the person receiving the action (al viudo). While this duplication feels redundant to English speakers, omitting le here would sound unnatural to a native speaker.
Why does Spanish use the singular el pésame instead of a plural possessive like "mis pésames"?
Unlike English, which uses the plural "condolences," Spanish treats the expression of sympathy as a singular noun. Additionally, Spanish often prefers the definite article (el) over a possessive pronoun (mi) in fixed social expressions, because the context already makes it obvious whose condolences are being given.
Why use the present perfect he dado instead of the simple past tense di?
In Spain, the present perfect (he dado) is strictly used for completed actions that happened within an ongoing time frame, such as "today" or "this morning." If you had offered your condolences yesterday or last week, a speaker from Spain would switch to the simple past: Le di el pésame al viudo.