Breakdown of Todas las personas tienen el derecho a amar a quien quieran.
Questions & Answers about Todas las personas tienen el derecho a amar a quien quieran.
All three are possible, but they’re not identical in tone.
- Todas las personas = all people, slightly formal / neutral, very clear and inclusive.
- todo el mundo = literally the whole world, but idiomatically everyone; a bit more informal and very common in speech.
- toda la gente = all the people / everybody, also common and somewhat informal.
In a sentence that sounds like a human-rights statement, Todas las personas feels more formal and universal, like the wording you’d see in official documents (e.g. UN declarations). Todo el mundo or toda la gente would sound more conversational.
Because personas is plural, the verb must also be plural.
- las personas → 3rd person plural subject
- tienen → 3rd person plural form of tener
If the subject were singular, you would use tiene:
- Toda persona tiene el derecho… = Every person has the right…
- Cada persona tiene el derecho… = Each person has the right…
But with todas las personas, the correct form is tienen.
In Spanish, when you use todo / toda / todos / todas directly before a noun, you usually include the definite article:
- todas las personas
- todos los estudiantes
- toda la gente
- todo el día
Saying todas personas is ungrammatical in standard Spanish. There are some fixed expressions where the article can drop (e.g. todo tiempo pasado in very literary language), but in everyday Spanish you want todas las personas.
No. Persona is grammatically feminine, but it can refer to men, women, and people of any gender.
- la persona = the person (any gender)
- las personas = the people
Adjectives and determiners agree with the grammatical gender of the noun, not necessarily the real-world gender of the people:
- todas las personas (feminine) simply because persona is a feminine noun.
So todas is feminine because it matches personas, not because it excludes men.
Both are correct:
- tienen derecho a amar…
- tienen el derecho a amar…
The meaning is practically the same. Using el can make the right feel a bit more concrete or “official,” like referring to a specific, recognized right (e.g. from a constitution or declaration). Without el, it sounds just slightly more general or idiomatic.
In ordinary speech and writing, tener derecho a + infinitive without the article is extremely common:
- Tienes derecho a opinar.
- Tenemos derecho a saber la verdad.
The preposition depends on what follows:
derecho a + infinitive (to do something):
- derecho a amar
- derecho a votar
- derecho a vivir en paz
derecho de + noun / thing:
- derecho de propiedad (right of ownership)
- derecho de reunión (right of assembly)
- derecho de expresión (right of expression)
In your sentence, what follows is the action amar (to love), so you use derecho a.
The second a here is not part of amar; it’s the personal “a” before a direct object that is a person.
- amar a alguien = to love someone
- ver a María = to see María
- escuchar a los niños = to listen to the children
In amar a quien quieran, the direct object is quien (who / whoever), and since it refers to people, you must use the personal a:
- amar a quien quieran = to love whoever they want (whoever they love = people)
You could say either:
- amar a quien quieran
- amar a quienes quieran
Both are grammatically correct.
In practice, when quien is used in this “whoever” sense with a verb in the subjunctive (like quieran), Spanish often prefers the singular quien, even if the logical reference can be plural.
So:
- quien + subjunctive often = whoever
- Quien quiera venir, que venga. = Whoever wants to come, come.
If you say a quienes quieran, you’re making the plurality more explicit, but a quien quieran is very natural and standard.
Quieran is the present subjunctive of querer. It’s used because:
- The clause a quien quieran means whoever they want — it refers to an unknown, indefinite person or people, not a specific, identified individual.
- Relative clauses with quien / el que / el que sea and an indefinite idea often take the subjunctive in Spanish.
Compare:
- Amarán a quien quieran. = They will love whoever they want (no restriction; open set).
- Amarán a quien quieren. = They will love the one(s) they (already) want (sounds like a more specific group).
In your sentence, the meaning is clearly “whoever they want,” so quieran (subjunctive) is correct.
You can say it, but the meaning changes subtly and it sounds less natural in this “rights” context:
- amar a quien quieran (subjunctive) = to love whoever they want (open, unrestricted, general principle).
- amar a quien quieren (indicative) suggests a more concrete, already-known person or group that they in fact want to love.
For a universal statement about rights, Spanish almost always uses the subjunctive: a quien quieran.
There’s a bit of flexibility, but not everything is natural. These are fine:
- Todas las personas tienen el derecho a amar a quien quieran.
- Todas las personas tienen derecho a amar a quien quieran.
- El derecho a amar a quien quieran lo tienen todas las personas. (more marked/emphatic)
But something like:
- Todas las personas a quien quieran tienen el derecho a amar
is wrong, because it breaks the structure of the relative clause and separates a quien quieran from the verb amar, which it depends on.
The most natural, default version is the original: Todas las personas tienen (el) derecho a amar a quien quieran.
Yes. The pattern is:
Todas las personas tienen (el) derecho a + infinitive + a quien / como / donde + subjuntivo
Examples:
- Todas las personas tienen derecho a vivir donde quieran.
- Todas las personas tienen el derecho a casarse con quien quieran.
- Todas las personas tienen derecho a pensar como quieran.
The structure tener (el) derecho a + infinitive + a quien/comó/donde + subjuntivo is very productive in Spanish.