Breakdown of ¡Que la fortuna los acompañe donde vayan!
ir
to go
donde
where (relative)
que
may / let (wish marker)
los
them (masculine direct object)
acompañar
to accompany
la fortuna
fortune
Questions & Answers about ¡Que la fortuna los acompañe donde vayan!
Why does this sentence start with Que instead of a verb like "I hope"?
Starting a sentence with Que followed by the present subjunctive (here, acompañe) is a common way to express a wish, hope, or command for someone else. It is essentially a shortened version of Espero que... (I hope that...) or Deseo que... (I wish that...). In English, this translates well to "May [something happen]!" or "Let [someone do something]!".
The English translation says "accompany you", but isn't los the pronoun for "them"?
In Latin America, ustedes is used as the plural "you" in all situations. The direct object pronoun for ustedes is los (or las if referring to a group of only women). So in this sentence, los can mean either "them" or "you all" depending on the context.
Why is the second verb, vayan, also in the subjunctive?
We use the subjunctive after donde when referring to an unknown, indefinite, or future place. Because the speaker doesn't know exactly where the people will end up going, donde vayan translates to "wherever you go." If the speaker were talking about a known, habitual destination, they would use the indicative, such as donde van siempre meaning "where you always go".
Should it be adonde vayan instead of donde vayan since the verb is ir?
You can actually use either! When expressing motion towards a destination, especially with a verb like ir (to go), adonde is traditionally preferred. However, in modern Spanish, just using donde for a destination is extremely common and fully accepted. Both work perfectly here for "wherever you go".
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