Learn Hardcore Spanish (Spain): Mi amiga está divorciada y vive cerca de sus suegros porque los quiere mucho. - My friend is divorced and lives near her in-laws because she loves them a lot.

You can hear es divorciada, but it sounds more like classifying her as a “divorced person” as a permanent characteristic (a bit like a label). In everyday speech, especially in Spain, estar divorciada is the normal, neutral choice.

Why divorciada (ending in -a) and not divorciado?

The adjective must agree in gender and number with the noun it describes.

amiga is feminine singular
therefore the adjective must be feminine singular: divorciada

Other examples:

Mi amigo está divorciado. (male friend)
Mis amigas están divorciadas. (group of female friends)
Mis amigos están divorciados. (mixed group or all male)

Could you also say Mi amiga es divorciada? Would it be wrong?

It is not grammatically wrong, but the nuance changes.

Está divorciada: neutral, focuses on her current marital status.
Es divorciada: sounds more like defining her by that status, as if it were a more stable “label” or identity. It can also appear in very formal or written contexts.

In normal conversation in Spain, está divorciada is what you would expect to hear.

Why is there an accent on está? What is the difference between está and esta?

está (with accent) is a form of the verb estar:
- ella está = she is
esta (no accent) is a demonstrative adjective or pronoun:
- esta amiga = this (female) friend

In the sentence, you need the verb está (Mi amiga está divorciada), so it must have the accent.

Why is there no ella? Why don’t we say Mi amiga, ella está divorciada…?

In Spanish, subject pronouns (yo, tú, él, ella, etc.) are usually dropped, because the verb ending already tells you the subject.

(Ella) está divorciada. → Está divorciada.

You only add ella for emphasis or contrast:

Mi amiga está divorciada, pero ella está muy contenta.
My friend is divorced, but she is very happy.

In your sentence, Mi amiga is the subject, so adding ella would normally be redundant.

Why is it vive cerca de sus suegros and not vive cerca sus suegros or vive cerca a sus suegros?

The fixed structure is cerca de + something:

cerca de Madrid = near Madrid
cerca de mi casa = near my house
cerca de sus suegros = near her in-laws

You must include de, and you do not add a:

✅ vive cerca de sus suegros
❌ vive cerca sus suegros
❌ vive cerca a sus suegros

What exactly does suegros mean? Does it mean all “in-laws”?

No, suegros is more specific than English in-laws.

suegro = father‑in‑law
suegra = mother‑in‑law
suegros (plural) = father‑ and mother‑in‑law together

English in-laws can include brothers‑in‑law, sisters‑in‑law, etc., but suegros refers only to the parents of your spouse (or ex‑spouse).

If she is divorced, can they still be called sus suegros?

Yes, speakers often keep using suegros even after a divorce, especially if the relationship is still close. Context and attitude matter.

If you want to be very precise, you can say sus exsuegros (or sus ex‑suegros), but sus suegros is still very natural in everyday speech when you are talking about the same people she used to have as in‑laws.

Whose in‑laws are sus suegros? Could sus refer to someone else?

In isolation, sus can mean his, her, their, or your (formal, plural). It is context‑dependent.

In this sentence:

Mi amiga está divorciada y vive cerca de sus suegros…

The default interpretation is that sus refers to mi amiga (the closest logical possessor). So it means her in‑laws.

If you needed to avoid ambiguity in a more complex context, you could specify:

vive cerca de los suegros de mi amiga = she lives near my friend’s in‑laws

Why is it los quiere mucho and not les quiere mucho?

Here los is a direct object pronoun referring to sus suegros:

quiere (a) sus suegros → los quiere

For querer in the sense of to love / to be fond of, the person is a direct object, so the standard pronoun is:

lo / la / los / las

In much of Spain there is leísmo (using le/les for male people), so many speakers would say:

Les quiere mucho.

However, grammar books teach los quiere mucho as the standard form, and that is what you see in your sentence.

Why los? What does los refer to exactly?

Los is masculine plural, and it refers back to sus suegros:

sus suegros (masculine plural) → los

So:

…vive cerca de sus suegros porque los quiere mucho.
= …she lives near her in‑laws because she loves them very much.

If the noun were feminine plural (for example, sus abuelas), you would use las:

Sus abuelas viven cerca y las quiere mucho.

Why mucho and not muy in los quiere mucho?

muy is used before adjectives and adverbs:
- muy grande (very big)
- muy cerca (very near)
mucho (as an adverb) is used to modify verbs:
- trabaja mucho (he/she works a lot)
- los quiere mucho (she loves them a lot / very much)

So with a verb like quiere, you must use mucho, not muy:

✅ los quiere mucho
❌ los quiere muy

Can I change the word order of los quiere mucho?

With a simple finite verb (like quiere), the unstressed object pronoun normally goes before the verb:

los quiere mucho

You can change the position only if there is an infinitive or a gerund, or an imperative:

Va a quererlos mucho. (infinitive)
Está queriéndolos mucho. (gerund; less common)
Quiérelos mucho. (affirmative command)

But with a simple present form alone, you do not say:

❌ quiere los mucho
❌ los mucho quiere

So in your sentence, los quiere mucho is the correct and natural order.

What is the difference between amiga, novia, and pareja?

amiga = (female) friend. No romantic implication by default.
novia = girlfriend / fiancée / bride, depending on context. Clearly romantic.
pareja = partner (romantic). Gender‑neutral word referring to someone’s partner.

In Mi amiga está divorciada, amiga just means my (female) friend. It does not suggest she is or was the speaker’s romantic partner.

Does querer here mean “to want” or “to love”?

In this context, querer means to love / to be very fond of:

los quiere mucho = she loves them a lot / she is very fond of them.

Querer can mean:

to want:
- Quiero un café. = I want a coffee.
to love (especially people you are close to):
- Te quiero. = I love you.
- Quiero mucho a mis abuelos. = I love my grandparents very much.

With sus suegros, los quiere mucho clearly means she has a lot of affection for them, not that she “wants” them.