English expressions in Spanish

Question

Love your life! ¡Ama a su vida!

Love your dog! ¡Ama a su perro!

Love your house! ¡Ama a su casa!

Do all these need "amor + A"? In other words, does there need to be an "a" for any word after the conjugated form of amor?

Is it more common to use encantar? ¡Encántate su perro!

Also, why is there a "de" after disfrutar? ¡Disfrute de su vida! Enjoy your life!

Answer 1

You like to pack a lot of questions in a single question. I will answer each separately.

Do all these need "amor + A"? In other words, does there need to be an "a" for any word after the conjugated form of amor?

My opinion- things no a, people and beloved pets- get the personal a. That being said there you will find people using the a often enough for things. Especially if they feel close to them. So definitely for perro, I would not for the other two, but you will find people who do.

See this thread:

http://forum.wordreference.com/threads/amar-algo-amar-a-algo.1693029/

Multiple entries, amar algo, amar a alguien.

¡Gracias otra vez Bosque! Una respuesta bastante simple. Lo entiendo más mejor ahora - Ramonaspiker, Jan 8, 2017

Answer 2

Is it more common to use encantar? ¡Encántate su perro!

You cannot make a command out of encantar that way, you are not the subject.

Encántate would be something like be enchanting to yourself. You could work in su perro only with de, something like:

Encántate de tu perro- be enchanted by your dog.

You could also do something like:

Quiero que te encante tu perro. I hope your dog enchants you.

I used enchant rather than love to show what is the subject, as you have to reverse it to transfer to love.

I don't think this is a very natural way of expressing it, it sounds a bit forced to me, but I posted this separate because of that to get native comment.

When "encantar" is used transitively it means "to enchant" If you want to enchant your cat I guess it's OK. :) - Daniela2041, Jan 8, 2017

Yes, I suppose you could say "encanta a tu gato", but that would not involve encántate. And would not be anything close to the meaning. :) - bosquederoble, Jan 8, 2017

Definitely seems like amar is better in this situation. Thanks Bosque! Thanks Daniela! Haven't talked with you in awhile, happy new year! :) - Ramonaspiker, Jan 8, 2017

Me encanta mi perro does mean "I love my dog" right? Is it still better to use amar with this non-command sentence? - Ramonaspiker, Jan 8, 2017

Answer 3

Also, why is there a "de" after disfrutar? ¡Disfrute de su vida! Enjoy your life!

There are a wide variety of way to use disfrutar:

If you go to RAE, the bible:

http://dle.rae.es/?id=DusQUW3

1. tr. Percibir o gozar los productos y utilidades de algo. Disfrutar la buena comida.

2. intr. Tener alguna condición buena, física o moral, o gozar de comodidad, regaloo conveniencia. Disfrutar DE excelente salud, destreza, estimación, fama, etc. U. t. c. tr.

See number 1 with no de.

You can also disfrutar de hacer algo or disfrutar haciendo algo.

The most usual is disfrutar de algo.

Disfrutar- "unfruit" or "defruit" something- implies taking pleasure "from" something. Like taking the fruit from a tree. Taking the good from something.

It makes sense to me to use de. Take pleasure from your life.

But if it doesn't to you- why do we look for things but seek them. Why can't we look things and seek for them. Prepositions are what they are.

Reference discussion

http://forum.wordreference.com/threads/disfrutar-de-o-disfrutar.2447785/

Thanks for answering all my questions Bosque! You're sarting off the year working hard! I kind of understand how to use disfrutar a little better, but not fully yet - Ramonaspiker, Jan 8, 2017

I love the analogy you gave about taking fruit from a tree. However,I don't understand what the RAE is saying about the two ways to use it - Ramonaspiker, Jan 8, 2017

I guess I'll just use disfrutar de every time I use it, but when shouldn't I use it according to the RAE? - Ramonaspiker, Jan 8, 2017

I can think of one example: No la puedo disfrutar sin ti. I can't enjoy it without you. "It" being the pizza - Ramonaspiker, Jan 8, 2017