Learn Hardcore Spanish (Spain): Quiero amar mi trabajo tanto como mi hermana ama su trabajo. - I want to love my job as much as my sister loves her job.

People normally use gustar or encantar for things like jobs, hobbies, food:
- Me gusta mi trabajo. = I like my job.
- Me encanta mi trabajo. = I love my job / I really like my job.
Amar is more intense and is most common:
- For people: Amo a mi pareja.
- For very strong passions: Amo la música.

So Quiero amar mi trabajo… is grammatically correct, but a bit dramatic or literary. In normal conversation, many people would say something like:

Quiero que me guste mi trabajo tanto como a mi hermana le gusta el suyo.
Me gustaría que me encantara mi trabajo tanto como a mi hermana le encanta el suyo.

Is Quiero amar the same as “I would like to love” or “I want to love”? How strong is quiero here?

Quiero is the present of querer and literally means I want.

Quiero amar mi trabajo… = I want to love my job…
This sounds like a clear, direct wish.

If you want something softer or more polite, like I would like to, Spanish usually uses:

Me gustaría amar mi trabajo tanto como…
Querría amar mi trabajo tanto como… (more formal / literary)

So:

Quiero amar… → strong, direct desire.
Me gustaría amar… → softer, more tentative wish.

Why is the personal a not used before mi trabajo in amar mi trabajo?

Spanish uses the personal a before direct objects that are:

Specific people: Amo a mi hermano.
Sometimes beloved animals or personified things.

But mi trabajo is an inanimate thing, so no a:

Quiero amar mi trabajo. ✅
Quiero amar a mi trabajo. ❌ (sounds wrong; like you’re treating the job as a person)

The same applies later:

mi hermana ama su trabajo. ✅
No a because su trabajo is also a thing, not a person.

Why is it tanto como and not tan como in this sentence?

Spanish distinguishes:

tan + adjective/adverb + como
- Trabajo tan duro como mi hermana.
  I work as hard as my sister.
tanto/a(s) + noun + como
- Tengo tanto trabajo como ella.
  I have as much work as she does.
tanto como to compare how much an action is done (degree of the verb):
- Quiero amar mi trabajo tanto como mi hermana ama su trabajo.
  → I want to love my job as much as my sister loves hers.

Here we are comparing how much they love, so we use tanto como, not tan como.

Why is tanto invariable here? Should it agree in gender or number with trabajo?

In this sentence, tanto does not refer to a noun; it refers to the degree of the action amar (how much they love).

When tanto modifies a noun, it agrees:
- tanto trabajo, tanta comida, tantos libros, tantas amigas
When tanto modifies a verb (the amount/degree of the action), it stays in the basic form tanto:
- Te quiero tanto.
- Corro tanto como tú.
- Quiero amar mi trabajo tanto como mi hermana ama su trabajo.

So it does not change to tanta here because it’s about loving, not directly about trabajo.

Could I say Quiero amar tanto mi trabajo como mi hermana ama su trabajo (moving tanto)?

That version is understandable but sounds off or unnatural to most native speakers.

The usual, natural pattern to compare verbs is:

verbo + tanto como + verbo

So:

Quiero amar mi trabajo tanto como mi hermana ama su trabajo. ✅ (natural)

If you move tanto before mi trabajo, it feels like you are starting a different structure or even like you’re about to say tanto mi trabajo como… = both my job and…, which would mean something else:

Amo tanto mi trabajo como mi vida familiar.
= I love both my job and my family life.

So in your sentence, keep tanto como together.

Why do we repeat trabajo at the end? Can we avoid repeating the noun?

Yes, you don’t have to repeat trabajo. You have three main options:

Repeat the noun (as in the original):
- Quiero amar mi trabajo tanto como mi hermana ama su trabajo.
  Very clear and correct.
Use a possessive pronoun el suyo:
- Quiero amar mi trabajo tanto como mi hermana ama el suyo.
  Here el suyo = her job.
Drop it entirely when it’s obvious from context:
- Quiero amar mi trabajo tanto como mi hermana ama el suyo. (most natural)
- Just …tanto como mi hermana ama el suyo. tends to sound best.

Using el suyo is a bit more elegant and avoids the repetition of trabajo.

Why is mi hermana ama su trabajo and not mi hermana ama a su trabajo?

Same reason as earlier: su trabajo is not a person.

Amo a mi hermana. ✅ (person → personal a)
Amo mi trabajo. / mi hermana ama su trabajo. ✅ (thing → no a)

You only use a before the direct object of amar when it’s a person (or a personified animal/thing):

Mi sobrino ama a su perro.

Why is there no yo or ella subject pronoun here? Is it optional?

In Spanish, the subject pronoun is often omitted because the verb ending already tells you who is doing the action:

Quiero amar… → the -o ending shows that the subject is yo.
mi hermana ama… → the subject mi hermana is already written.

You can add subject pronouns, but they usually add emphasis, contrast, or clarity:

Yo quiero amar mi trabajo, pero ella no.
Yo quiero amar mi trabajo tanto como mi hermana ama el suyo.

In your sentence, adding yo or ella is not necessary and would sound slightly more marked or emphatic.

Why is the present tense (quiero, ama) used if the idea is about the future or a general wish?

In Spanish, the present indicative often expresses:

A current desire:
- Quiero amar mi trabajo… → This is what I want now.
A general truth or habit:
- mi hermana ama su trabajo. → This is generally true about her.

English sometimes uses “would like to” or future forms, but Spanish is comfortable using the present:

Quiero viajar más.
Quiero cambiar de trabajo.

If you want a more hypothetical or polite tone, you switch the verb, not the tense:

Me gustaría amar mi trabajo…
rather than changing the tense of querer to something like the future.

Could I say Quiero querer mi trabajo tanto como mi hermana quiere su trabajo? Does that sound more natural?

Yes, Quiero querer mi trabajo… is actually more natural in everyday Spanish than Quiero amar mi trabajo…, because:

Querer about things (like jobs) often means to like / to be fond of, in a milder way than amar.
Amar tu trabajo can sound very intense or idealistic.

So:

Quiero querer mi trabajo tanto como mi hermana quiere el suyo.
→ I want to like my job as much as my sister likes hers.

This version is common in colloquial speech and sounds less literary than Quiero amar mi trabajo….

What’s the difference between trabajo, empleo, and curro here? Could I use them instead?

All three can refer to a job, but the register and nuance are different:

trabajo
- Very common, neutral.
- Can mean job, work, or the act of working.
- Your sentence with trabajo is neutral and standard.
empleo
- More formal, often used in official or written contexts.
- Quiero amar mi empleo is grammatically correct, but less natural in casual speech.
curro
- Very colloquial/slang in Spain.
- Quiero amar mi curro… sounds informal and very “Spain-Spanish”.

So for a learner, trabajo is the safest and most widely used word in this kind of sentence.

How is amar conjugated in the present tense, and which forms are we seeing in the sentence?

Amar is a regular -ar verb. Present indicative:

yo amo
tú amas
él / ella / usted ama
nosotros/as amamos
vosotros/as amáis
ellos / ellas / ustedes aman

In the sentence:

Quiero amar mi trabajo… → amar is the infinitive (to love).
mi hermana ama su trabajo → ama is the él/ella form (she loves).

So you see both the infinitive and the third-person singular present.