how to understand this sentence?

Question

Aunque su casa es grande y muy hermosa, no creo que la vida de aquella familia sea muy feliz. Al menos, yo no visito a aquellos parientes con mucho gusto.

here... con mucho gusto... dose it decribe parientes or yo? and ... no visito ... can I understand it as: I haven't visited...?

Answer 1

yo no visito a aquellos parientes con mucho gusto.

"Con mucho gusto" is acting as an adverb and modifies the verb visito.

Keep in mind that, oftentimes, popular ways of expressing an idea in one language will be literally translated into an odd way of saying the same idea in the other. In this case, I don't really care for the phrase "with a lot of gusto" (I mean, in English...it sounds fine in Spanish) and I will rewrite it so it has the same meaning but sounds more like something I would be more apt to say. (That's not to say I would never say it the original way, though).

Literal translation: I don't visit those relatives with a lot of gusto.

Better: I don't really enjoy visiting those relatives.

No visito is in present tense, thus: I don't visit. I believe in this case it is describing a habitual action as opposed to a strictly present one. - webdunce, Nov 11, 2010