Why use "les encanta"?

Question

Context: My attempt for the English Word of the Day and corrections.

Nuestros perritos encantan las hojas de otoño.

Our puppies love the autumn leaves.

Edit:"A nuestros perritos les encanta las hojas de otoño."

Because I'm talking about specific puppies, our puppies, I need the "a" in front of "nuestros perritos"? Is this correct?

Les is an indirect object pronoun; but I'm not understanding what the indirect object is, to create the need for "les". Why use "les encanta"?

Answer 1

Les is an indirect object pronoun; but I'm not understanding what the indirect object is, to create the need for "les". Why use "les encanta"?

Maybe you could check a few past threads. Look at this sentences:

Es importante que (tú) vengas.

It is important that you come here.

Let's compare them word by word:

It = ????

is = es

important = importante

that = que

you = (tú)

come = vengas

Now, why on earth is that "it" there? (I know the answer, by the way) The Spanish translation, like the translation in many other languages, not only doesn't have that it, but it cannot be added, or the sentence becomes grammatically incorrect right away. Redundant maybe? Now let's alter the order sentence:

That you come here is important.

What happened with that "it"? Did it disappear? Maybe it wasn't that important after all, if you can say the same thing without using it. Actually, now you can't even use it (That you come here it is important???) The reason why it was used in the first place is to warn others that the real information can be found somewhere else in the sentence, and it gives clues about the grammatical structure that it is being used.

The Spanish "le" is used for similar reasons. Spanish speakers tend to miss that "it" all the time, because we can't use it in our language, but we try, because we are told that the sentences sound incomplete, wrong and confusing without them. Try to do the same about our "le".

Excellent explanation. My problem is using the Spanish 'le, les' where needed. :-) - GerdaD, Jun 8, 2011

Answer 2

pacofinkler said

However "encanta" should be "encantan" as it is "they" that are enjoying the autumn leaves

Surely it is encantan because we are referring to the plural "Autumn leaves" and not the plural of "dogs".

Answer 3

Your sentence should be translated as The autumn leaves enchant the puppies to make it easier for you to understand what's going on with the subject vs. the object.

It works like Al perrito le gustan las hojas [I changed the object to the singular perrito so it's easier to distinguish from the plural hojas. The les becomes le with that change.]

edit: The a is not the personal a, it is the same a that would be in a mi me gusta. Sorry.

Gracias, Sabor! I'm really trying hard to understand more in depth Spanish! You know vs, Hola and Adiós! - bandit51jd, Jun 8, 2011

You are ok! :) - Sabor, Jun 8, 2011

Answer 4

Nuestros perritos encantan las hojas de otoño.

Our puppies love the autumn leaves.

Edit:"A nuestros perritos les encanta las hojas de otoñ

Yes the "A" points to "our dogs" ( these particular dogs) so it is needed.

However "encanta" should be "encantan" as it is "they" that are enjoying the autumn leaves

That was a typo of mine, I should have written "encantan", however, "encantan" is not because of how many dogs but because of the leaves...plural, "hojas" - 002067fe, Jun 8, 2011

"A mi me encanta esa mujer" "A nosotros nos encanta esa mujer" "A mi me encantan esas mujeres" "A nosotros nos encantan esas mujeres" - 002067fe, Jun 8, 2011

Gracias, Tom! Sorry I didn't catch that typo when I posted this! And thank you for the uses of encanta and encantan! - bandit51jd, Jun 8, 2011

Hello Tom, I went with the dogs as the main subject, Interesting thanks. - pacofinkler, Jun 8, 2011

Answer 5

Don't forget , bandit, encantar has the same conjugation pattern as gustar

Answer 6

You guys and gals have all been really helpful. I knew some verbs acted like ¨gustar¨ but I really hadn´t studied them too much. I believe this one, ¨encantar¨, will be forever embedded in my mind because of ¨dogs¨ vs ¨¨leaves¨!

the autumn leaves enchant the puppies

I like this presentation of my original sentence. If I´m understanding the indirect object correctly the autumn leaves enchant ¨whom¨ - the puppies.

Also, last semesters instructor said to use the "a" with gustar can I assume verbs like "gustar" such as "encantar" will always or almost always use the "a" before a person or specific animal?

I also liked the answer to why use ¨les¨. The comparison to the English ¨it¨ is quite informative, that other real, or important information is somewhere in the sentence. It´s like a marker, or signal to watch for something important?