Learn Spanish (Spain): Ellos se aman mucho; no son enemigos. - They love each other a lot; they are not enemies.

Ellos se aman mucho; no son enemigos.

They love each other a lot; they are not enemies.

Breakdown of Ellos se aman mucho; no son enemigos.

Questions & Answers about Ellos se aman mucho; no son enemigos.

How do we know se aman means "they love each other" instead of "they love themselves"?

The pronoun se can be reflexive (doing an action to oneself) or reciprocal (doing an action to each other). While se aman could technically mean "they love themselves", verbs like amar (to love) in the plural almost always imply the mutual, reciprocal meaning. Context usually gives it away!

If I want to be absolutely clear that it means "each other" and not "themselves", what can I add to the sentence?

You can add the phrase el uno al otro (or los unos a los otros for larger groups) after the verb. So, Ellos se aman el uno al otro removes any doubt that the action is mutual.

Why is it mucho instead of muchos to match the plural ellos?

In this sentence, mucho is acting as an adverb meaning "a lot", modifying the verb aman. Because adverbs describe verbs and not nouns, they never change their ending for gender or number. You only use muchos when it is an adjective describing a plural noun (like muchos enemigos).

Could I attach se to the end of the verb, like Ellos amanse?

No, you can't attach pronouns to the end of a regular conjugated verb like aman. Reciprocal pronouns like se must come immediately before the conjugated verb. You only attach them to the end of infinitives, gerunds (words ending in -ando or -iendo), and affirmative commands.