Breakdown of Nos amamos y nos respetamos.
y
and
nos
each other (reciprocal)
amar
to love
respetar
to respect
Questions & Answers about Nos amamos y nos respetamos.
Why does nos translate to "each other" here instead of "us"?
The pronoun nos can act as a direct object ("us"), a reflexive pronoun ("ourselves"), or a reciprocal pronoun ("each other"). When a plural subject does an action to one another, nos gives us that "each other" meaning. While nos amamos could technically mean "we love ourselves," the context of this sentence clearly means "we love each other."
Do we really need to use nos twice?
Generally, yes! In Spanish, you usually place the object pronoun right before every conjugated verb it applies to. While you might sometimes hear people say Nos amamos y respetamos in casual speech, repeating the nos before both verbs is the standard way to show that both the loving and the respecting are reciprocal actions.
Where is the word for "we" in this sentence?
It is built right into the verbs! Both amamos (we love) and respetamos (we respect) end in -amos, which is the present tense ending for nosotros (we). Since the verb ending makes the subject completely obvious, the word nosotros is dropped to sound more natural.
What if I want to make it extra clear that we mean "each other" and not "ourselves"?
If you ever need to clarify that an action is truly reciprocal, you can add the phrase el uno al otro (to each other) to the sentence. For example: Nos amamos el uno al otro. However, with verbs like loving and respecting, the "each other" meaning is usually assumed, so you don't need the extra phrase here.