Te extraño

“People are strange when you’re a stranger” – The Doors

Once mi amor wrote to me, te extraño. I looked in the dictionary and found that extraño means:

1. alien adj.
2. strange, odd
3. stranger

Google translates te extraño as “you strange”.

Well, maybe I am a little ‘strange’, but am I a stranger to mi amor? Next time we chatted I asked, “what did you mean by te extraño”, and she replied, “it means I ‘miss you’.”

The ‘problem’ for a newbie to Spanish is that extraño in this case is not from the above definition relating to “strange” or “alien” (although it kind of fits with the English phrase “don’t be a stranger”). It is actually a verb conjugation of extrañar (extrañarse): miss, be surprised.

So, the meaning of te extraño is “I miss you”. This is used mainly in Latin America. An alternative way of saying this, or in Spain, is: Te echo de menos.

For more information see: http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=39485

Update 4th September 2009: Google Translator now correctly translates te extraño as “I miss you.”

Related posts:

1. All about Ñ (eñe)
2. Learn Spanish – Day 7
3. Learn Spanish – Day 10
4. 30-Day Challenge Update