Pourquoi "lui propose Robert"

[Zhongjie Fan]

Hi,

I'm reading a child book. There is a dialog.

- Bonjour, ca ne va pas? demande Robert.
- Je me sens seul, repondit le petit lapin.
- Viens avec moi, je cherche un ami, lui propose Robert.

My question here is why "lui propose Robert", why not "le propose Robert"? I searched dictionary, looks like 'proposer' is a v.t.

Merci.

Jerry Fan

[Erwan]

In English, you'll say "Robert proposes to him". lui is the translation, in this case, of "to him". It Refers to le petit lapin which is a charater.

le will be use for an object (but not with the verb propose).

[Neil Coffey]

The direct object (and hence the reason for the dictionary marking "propoesr" as transitive) would be the thing being proposed/suggested. For example:

 

- Pourquoi proposez-vous ce tarif?

- Je le propose parce que c'est moins cher.

 

[Zhongjie Fan]

Je le comprends. Merci a vous.