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Les pido que no sientan envidia.

Les pido que no sientan envidia.
I ask you all not to feel envious.
From Lesson 264:Verbs of emotional reaction (dar)·Spanish (Latin America)

Questions & Answers about Les pido que no sientan envidia.

Why is the verb sientan instead of sienten?
The verb pedir (to ask/request) expresses a request or desire. When you ask someone else to do something, Spanish uses que followed by the subjunctive mood. Because of this rule, the regular present tense sienten changes to the subjunctive sientan.
Why does the sentence use Les at the beginning?
Les is the indirect object pronoun for "you all" (or "them"). In Spanish, when you ask a favor or make a request of someone, that person is the indirect object. The sentence literally translates to "To you all I ask that...", showing exactly who is receiving the request.
The translation says "envious", but isn't envidia a noun?
Yes, envidia literally means "envy". English often uses adjectives for emotions (to feel envious, to be afraid), but Spanish frequently pairs verbs like sentir (to feel) or dar (to give) with nouns. Sentir envidia means "to feel envy". If a situation was causing the feeling, you could also use the structure from this lesson: les da envidia (it gives you all envy).
Could I use pregunto instead of pido to mean "I ask"?
Not in this context. Spanish has two main verbs for "to ask". You use preguntar when you are asking a question to get information. You use pedir when you are asking someone to do something (a request) or asking for an object. Since this is a request for a behavior, pido is the correct choice.

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