"¡Yo les quiero mucho!"
In my Spanish 2 class we're reading the short story Patricia va a California, and I came across a phrase I couldn't translate: "Yo les quiero mucho". Looking up individual words, it seems as though it would translate to, "I them want much," but of course that can't be right. The closest thing I can think of that would roughly make sense is, "I want them a lot," but that doesn't make sense in the context. The paragraph is:
Patricia les da abrazos a todos. Llora un poco porque no va a ver a su familia por unos meses. Les grita:
-"¡Yo les quiero mucho! ¡Adiós!
I'd greatly appreciate any help; thanks!
2 Answers
- It is translated to say "I love you all a lot!"
- The "les" means "to them" or "to you all"
- That is why the line above reads "les grita:" or "she yells to them"
- Good example of the two uses of les
I love you all very much. Seems like leísmo to me, seems like it should be "A ustedes los quiero mucho". But I could be wrong.