Learn Hardcore Spanish (Spain): En este lago la temperatura del agua es más baja que en otros, pero a mi hija le encanta igualmente. - In this lake the water temperature is lower than in others, but my daughter loves it anyway.

The person who likes/loves something is expressed with a + person and the pronoun le, not as the grammatical subject. You cannot say mi hija encanta to mean my daughter loves it; that would be ungrammatical in this context.

If we already say a mi hija, why do we also need the pronoun le?

In Spanish, this duplication is normal and usually required with verbs like gustar and encantar:

A mi hija le encanta
A Juan le gusta el lago.

The pattern is:

a + person (for emphasis or clarification)
- matching indirect object pronoun (me, te, le, nos, os, les).

You can:

Drop a mi hija if context is clear: Le encanta.
But you cannot drop le and keep only A mi hija encanta — that is wrong.

So the pronoun le is grammatically necessary; a mi hija is there to clarify who le refers to and to emphasize it.

What’s the difference between encantar and gustar in this sentence?

Both are “liking” verbs, but:

gustar = to like
encantar = to love, to really like, to be crazy about

So:

A mi hija le gusta el lago. = My daughter likes the lake.
A mi hija le encanta el lago. = My daughter loves the lake / really likes the lake.

In your sentence, le encanta suggests she likes swimming there a lot, even though the water is colder.

Why is the sentence En este lago la temperatura del agua… instead of La temperatura del agua en este lago…? Are both correct?

Both word orders are correct and natural:

En este lago la temperatura del agua es más baja…
La temperatura del agua en este lago es más baja…

The difference is nuance:

Version 1 starts with En este lago, so it highlights this lake as the topic: In this lake (as opposed to others), the water temperature is lower…
Version 2 starts with La temperatura del agua, focusing first on the water temperature.

Spanish is flexible with word order, especially for emphasis. Here, putting En este lago first makes the contrast with “other lakes” feel stronger.

In es más baja que en otros, why is it que en otros and not que otros?

Que en otros means than in other (lakes) and keeps the same preposition en:

En este lago … que en otros (lagos)
= In this lake … than in other (lakes).

If you said más baja que otros, it would read as:

Lower than other [things], without the preposition en, and sounds incomplete here. You’d need to specify:
más baja que otros lagos = lower than other lakes (are).

But since we’re contrasting in this lake with in other lakes, the natural parallel is:

en este lago ↔ en otros (lagos)
hence que en otros.

What does en otros refer to? Why can you omit lagos?

En otros is short for en otros lagos (in other lakes). Spanish often omits a noun when it’s clear from context:

Este lago es muy profundo; otros son menos profundos.
(This lake is very deep; others are less deep. → “others” = other lakes)

In your sentence, we already have en este lago, so when we later say en otros, it’s understood that we mean otros lagos. Repeating lagos is optional:

…es más baja que en otros lagos… (also correct, just more explicit)

Why is it más baja que and not más baja de?

For comparisons of inequality (more/less … than), Spanish normally uses:

más/menos + adjective/adverb + que

So:

más baja que = lower than
más alto que = taller than
menos interesante que = less interesting than

De is used mainly:

Before numbers in comparisons:
- más de 20 grados = more than 20 degrees
In some fixed expressions or when the second element is a clause, but the basic rule is:
- más/menos + adjective + que + noun/pronoun.

So más baja que en otros is the standard comparative form.

What exactly does igualmente mean here? Could I just say también?

In this sentence:

…pero a mi hija le encanta igualmente.

Igualmente means all the same / anyway / just as much. It emphasizes that despite the colder water, she still loves it:

…but my daughter loves it all the same / anyway.

También just means also / too and doesn’t carry that “despite what was just said” nuance. Compare:

…pero a mi hija le encanta también.
Sounds like “…but my daughter also loves it” (along with someone else), not necessarily in spite of the cold.

So igualmente is better here because it connects to the contrast introduced by pero: cold water vs. her enjoyment.

Could I say pero a mi hija le encanta igual instead of igualmente? Is that common in Spain?

Yes, in everyday spoken Spanish in Spain, you’ll very often hear:

…pero a mi hija le encanta igual.

Here igual works adverbially and means practically the same as igualmente: anyway / all the same / just as much.

Nuances:

igualmente – a bit more neutral/formal.
igual – very common in casual speech in Spain, sounds informal/colloquial in many contexts.

So both are correct; igual is more colloquial, igualmente slightly more standard or written.

Why do we say la temperatura del agua with la? In English we’d just say “water temperature” without “the.”

Spanish uses definite articles much more than English. You often need el / la / los / las where English doesn’t use “the.”

In la temperatura del agua:

la temperatura = the temperature
del agua = of the water

Spanish tends to use an article with:

General nouns: la temperatura, el clima, la gente
Body parts, days of the week, etc.

So la temperatura del agua is completely normal and required; temperatura del agua (without la) sounds incomplete or ungrammatical in this context.

Why is it del agua and not de la agua?

Del is the contraction of de + el:

de + el → del

So del agua literally is de el agua.

Why el agua and not la agua?

agua is grammatically feminine, but like other feminine nouns beginning with a stressed a-, it uses el in the singular to avoid the la a- sound:
- el agua fría
- el águila
- el arma

They are still feminine, so adjectives and other words agree in feminine:

el agua fría (fría, not frío)

In your sentence:

la temperatura del agua
= the temperature of the water

So:

del = de + el (because it’s el agua, not la agua).

Why is baja feminine? What does it agree with?

Baja is the feminine form of the adjective bajo (low). Adjectives must agree in gender and number with the noun they modify.

Here, the noun is:

la temperatura (feminine singular)

So:

baja (feminine singular) agrees with temperatura.

Even though agua is also involved, the subject is la temperatura del agua (the temperature). Temperatura is the head noun, so agreement is with temperatura, not agua:

La temperatura del agua es más baja…
(baja matches temperatura)

Is the comma before pero necessary in …, pero a mi hija le encanta igualmente?

It’s standard (and recommended) to put a comma before pero when it introduces a contrasting clause:

…es más baja que en otros, pero a mi hija le encanta igualmente.

You will see pero without a comma in informal writing, but in careful written Spanish the comma is normally included, just like in English before “but”:

…, but my daughter loves it anyway. → comma expected in careful writing.

So: the comma is not absolutely “mandatory” in casual texts, but it is correct and stylistically preferable.