What does " te echo de menos" literally mean?

Question

I'm very confused about this expression. Please could someone help me. Also, if I wanted to put "mucho" into that expression, where would it go and would the ending of "mucho" ever change? ¡Estoy confundida!

Thank you in advance.

Cardiff ^^

Answer 1

You might want to recognize that this is an idiomatic expression, and as is often seen with idiomatic expressions, a literal interpretation is not always forthcoming. Basically, it means I miss you or I feel (sadness/pain etc because of) your absence.

According to the DRAE, the use of this word in this way was actually borrowed from Portuguese and carries a somewhat divergent meaning when compared with the traditional sense of the word which was passed to Spanish directly from Latin.

In Portuguese, the root word (achar) means something like "encontrar" or "hallar," so I suppose that it could more literally mean something like I find you missing or I discover/discern/note your abscence.

Again, I wouldn't get too caught up in literal translations, though. Regarding where to put the modifier mucho, you could say: Te echo mucho de menos.

Thank you :) that helped me a lot - Cardiff1985, JUN 14, 2010

Googled my way here and just wanted to say that's a brilliant answer, thank you. - okiaji, DIC 28, 2011

Answer 2

te echo de menos : means i miss u n really wan2 see you