Learn Hardcore Spanish (Latin America): Cuando mi hija tiene miedo de la oscuridad, la abrazo para consolarla. - When my daughter is afraid of the dark, I hug her to comfort her.

Cuando mi hija tiene miedo de la oscuridad, la abrazo para consolarla.

When my daughter is afraid of the dark, I hug her to comfort her.

Breakdown of Cuando mi hija tiene miedo de la oscuridad, la abrazo para consolarla.

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Questions & Answers about Cuando mi hija tiene miedo de la oscuridad, la abrazo para consolarla.

Why is it tiene miedo and not something like está miedo or es miedo?

In Spanish, fear is usually expressed with tener + noun, literally to have fear:

tener miedo = to be afraid
tener hambre = to be hungry
tener frío = to be cold

You cannot say está miedo or es miedo to mean is afraid.
If you want to use estar, you must use an adjective:

está asustada = she is scared / frightened

Why do we say tiene miedo de la oscuridad? What is the role of de here?

The noun miedo needs a preposition (de or a) to introduce what you’re afraid of.

tener miedo de + [thing / situation / verb]
tener miedo a + [thing / situation / verb]

So:

tiene miedo de la oscuridad = she is afraid of the dark

You cannot just say tiene miedo la oscuridad; Spanish requires the preposition between miedo and la oscuridad.

Is there a difference between tener miedo de la oscuridad and tener miedo a la oscuridad?

Both are grammatically correct and understood.

In practice, de is very common with things and situations:
tener miedo de la oscuridad, tener miedo de volar.
a is also used, often heard with people or animals:
tener miedo a los perros, tener miedo a Juan.

Many speakers use de and a almost interchangeably with miedo, so de la oscuridad is a very natural choice.

Why do we say la oscuridad with la? In English we just say “darkness,” not “the darkness.”

Spanish uses definite articles (el, la, los, las) more often than English, especially with abstract nouns and general concepts:

la oscuridad = (the) darkness / the dark
la libertad = (the) freedom
el amor = (the) love

In many cases where English drops the, Spanish keeps el / la. So miedo de la oscuridad is the normal, generic way to say fear of the dark.

Why is it mi hija tiene miedo de la oscuridad and not mi hija está miedo de la oscuridad?

Two points:

Verb choice
- Emotional and physical states with a noun use tener + noun:
  tiene miedo, tiene hambre, tiene sueño, etc.
- estar is used with adjectives: está asustada, está nerviosa.
Structure
- está miedo is always wrong.
  To use estar, you’d have to change the noun miedo into an adjective:
- está asustada de la oscuridad = she is scared of the dark.

So tiene miedo de la oscuridad is the standard way to say “she is afraid of the dark.”

Why is it la abrazo and not le abrazo?

In Latin American Spanish:

la = direct object pronoun for a female person or thing (her/it)
lo = direct object pronoun for a male person or thing (him/it)
le = indirect object pronoun (to/for him, her, you)

In the sentence:

la abrazo = I hug her
(her is the direct object of abrazar)

So la is correct. Le abrazo would sound wrong in Latin America because le is not used as a direct object pronoun there (no leísmo in standard Latin American usage).

Could I say Abrazo a mi hija instead of la abrazo?

Yes.

Abrazo a mi hija = I hug my daughter
La abrazo = I hug her

Both are correct. You can even combine them for emphasis:

La abrazo a mi hija = I hug my daughter (her),
with la and a mi hija referring to the same person.

In conversation, people often choose either the pronoun (la abrazo) or the full noun (abrazo a mi hija), unless they want emphasis or clarification.

Why do we repeat la in para consolarla? Could we just say para consolar?

Consolar needs an object: you console someone.

para consolar = in order to console (someone, unspecified)
para consolarla = in order to console her

In the original sentence, the idea is specifically “to console her,” so the object pronoun la must appear somewhere with consolar.

Why is the pronoun attached in consolarla and not written separately like la consolar?

With object pronouns in Spanish:

Before a conjugated verb:
la abrazo, la consuelo
Attached to an infinitive, gerund, or affirmative command:
consolarla, consolándola, ¡abrázala!

Here consolar is an infinitive after para, so the correct placement is to attach the pronoun:

para consolarla ✅
para la consolar ❌ (not standard Spanish)

Why don’t we say yo la abrazo? Where is the subject?

The subject yo is implied by the verb form abrazo:

abrazo = I hug
abrazas = you hug
abraza = he/she hugs

Spanish normally omits subject pronouns when the verb ending already shows who the subject is. So:

(Yo) la abrazo = I hug her

Adding yo is possible, but it usually adds emphasis:

Cuando mi hija tiene miedo de la oscuridad, yo la abrazo.
= When my daughter is afraid of the dark, I hug her (not someone else).

Why is cuando followed by the present tense (tiene, abrazo) and not the subjunctive (tenga, abrace)?

With cuando, the tense and mood depend on the kind of action:

For habitual/general actions (things that regularly happen), use the present indicative in both clauses:
- Cuando mi hija tiene miedo de la oscuridad, la abrazo.
  = Whenever my daughter is afraid of the dark, I hug her.
For future actions not seen as habitual, you often use the subjunctive in the cuando clause:
- Cuando mi hija tenga miedo de la oscuridad, la abrazaré.
  = When my daughter is (someday) afraid of the dark, I will hug her.

In your sentence, it’s a repeated, typical situation, so the present indicative (tiene, abrazo) is correct.

If it were my son instead of my daughter, what would change?

You’d change the feminine forms to masculine:

Cuando mi hijo tiene miedo de la oscuridad, lo abrazo para consolarlo.

Changes:

mi hija → mi hijo
la abrazo → lo abrazo (direct object pronoun for a male person)
consolarla → consolarlo

Everything else stays the same.