Breakdown of Me encantan los tocadiscos viejos.
los
the (masculine plural)
viejo
old
me
to me / me (direct object)
encantar
to love (something)
el tocadiscos
the record player
Questions & Answers about Me encantan los tocadiscos viejos.
Why doesn't the word tocadiscos change form to become plural?
Tocadiscos is a compound noun made of a verb (tocar) and a plural noun (discos). In Spanish, compound nouns constructed this way are invariable. This means they have the exact same spelling in the singular and the plural. You only change the article and any adjectives, like going from el tocadiscos viejo to los tocadiscos viejos, to show that there is more than one.
Is the first part of tocadiscos the verb tocar?
Yes! Compound nouns for tools or machines are very often formed by combining the third-person singular of a verb with a plural noun. Here, it is toca (plays) + discos (records), creating the word for a record player. Other common examples are el lavaplatos (dishwasher) and el abrelatas (can opener).
Since discos is masculine, does that make the whole word tocadiscos masculine?
It is masculine, but not because of discos. Almost all compound nouns made of a verb plus a noun are masculine in Spanish, regardless of the gender of the noun part. For example, even though las latas (cans) is feminine, a can opener is masculine: el abrelatas. So el tocadiscos follows this very reliable rule.
Why is the verb encantan plural here?
Verbs like encantar and gustar work backwards compared to English. The literal translation is closer to old record players are enchanting to me. Since the actual subject of the Spanish sentence is the plural phrase los tocadiscos viejos, the verb must be conjugated in the plural form encantan to match it.
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