Breakdown of Mi prima odia el viento frío, pero le encanta jugar con la nieve.
Questions & Answers about Mi prima odia el viento frío, pero le encanta jugar con la nieve.
Prima is the feminine form of primo, meaning female cousin.
- mi prima = my (female) cousin
- mi primo = my (male) cousin
The possessive mi doesn’t change for gender, only for number:
- mi prima / mi primo (my cousin)
- mis primas / mis primos (my cousins)
In Spanish, subject pronouns (like yo, tú, él, ella) are usually omitted because the verb ending already tells you who the subject is.
- Mi prima odia… = She (my cousin) hates…
- Adding ella would normally be wrong here:
- Ella mi prima odia… – incorrect
- Ella odia el viento frío… – grammatically correct, but you would only use ella for contrast or emphasis, e.g. Ella odia el viento frío, pero yo no.
In this sentence, mi prima is the subject, so ella is unnecessary.
Odia is the third person singular form of odiar (to hate), which must agree with mi prima (she):
- yo odio – I hate
- tú odias – you hate
- él / ella odia – he / she hates
Since the subject is mi prima (she), you need odia:
- Mi prima odia el viento frío = My cousin hates the cold wind.
You don’t need a here because el viento frío is not a person; it’s a thing. Spanish uses a before direct objects that are people (or personified), not things:
- Odio a mi jefe. – I hate my boss.
- Odio el viento. – I hate the wind.
The definite article el is very commonly used in Spanish when talking about things in a general sense, much more than the in English.
- Odia el viento frío.
Literally: She hates the cold wind.
Natural English: She hates cold wind / cold winds.
Without the article, odia viento frío sounds incomplete or wrong.
Using el here is the normal way to refer generally to that type of weather.
Position:
Adjectives in Spanish usually go after the noun:- viento frío – cold wind
Putting it before (frío viento) is possible only in very literary or poetic language.
- viento frío – cold wind
Agreement:
Adjectives must agree in gender and number with the noun:- el viento – masculine, singular
- frío – masculine, singular
If the noun changed, the adjective would change too: - la brisa fría – the cold breeze (feminine singular)
- los vientos fríos – the cold winds (masculine plural)
Encantar behaves like gustar in Spanish: the structure is “something pleases someone.”
- Le encanta jugar con la nieve.
Literally: Playing with the snow delights her.
Meaning: She loves playing with the snow.
Structure:
- le = to her / to him (indirect object pronoun)
- encanta = delights / is loved
- jugar con la nieve = the thing that delights her (the subject)
So:
- Le encanta jugar con la nieve. = She loves playing with the snow.
Ella encanta… is wrong in standard Spanish; you don’t say “She enchants playing with the snow.” You must use the gustar-type structure: A ella le encanta… or simply Le encanta… when context is clear.
Le is an indirect object pronoun (to/for him/her), which is what encantar needs:
- Le encanta la nieve.
→ The snow is enchanting to her / She loves the snow.
La is a direct object pronoun (her, it – feminine) and is not used with gustar/encantar-type verbs.
Compare:
- La veo. – I see her / I see it. (direct object → la)
- Le encanta. – He/She loves it. (something is pleasing to him/her → le)
So le encanta is the correct combination.
Yes, that’s perfectly correct and very common:
- A mi prima le encanta jugar con la nieve.
This version:
- repeats the person clearly (a mi prima)
- still uses the pronoun le (you must keep it)
Nuance:
- Mi prima odia el viento frío, pero le encanta jugar con la nieve.
→ Normal, pronoun only, the subject is already known. - Mi prima odia el viento frío, pero a mi prima le encanta jugar con la nieve.
→ Repeats mi prima; sounds a bit heavy unless you want contrast or emphasis. - A mi prima le encanta jugar con la nieve.
→ Typical full form when the sentence starts with the “gustar/encantar” idea.
All of these are grammatically possible, but they mean slightly different things:
jugar con la nieve – to play with the snow
→ You are using the snow as something to play with (making snowballs, snowmen, etc.).jugar en la nieve – to play in the snow
→ Emphasises the location (you are in a snowy place while playing).jugar a la nieve – not natural; jugar a is used with games:
- jugar al fútbol – to play football
- jugar a las cartas – to play cards
In the original sentence, con matches the idea of playing with the snow as a material/toy, so jugar con la nieve is the natural choice.
Nieve is grammatically feminine, so it takes la:
- la nieve – the snow
Some words ending in -e can be masculine or feminine; you just have to learn them:
- el coche – the car (masculine)
- la noche – the night (feminine)
- el puente – the bridge (masculine)
- la nieve – the snow (feminine)
Plural would be las nieves, but that’s much less common and usually literary.
In modern Spanish punctuation, it is standard to use a comma before pero when it introduces a contrast between two clauses:
- Mi prima odia el viento frío, pero le encanta jugar con la nieve.
Writing it without the comma (Mi prima odia el viento frío pero le encanta…) is sometimes seen, but the version with the comma is considered clearer and more correct in formal writing.