Por lo huraña y dos hijos.
 

... que pocos habían visto por lo huraña y dos hijos.
All the machine translatons fail to make sense of this.
It seems like. Few people had seen the unsociable lady and her two sons.

How do we interpret por lo?
I am just thinking of gender, looks like a mixture of genders, i know lo can refer to a conceptual idea.

It seems someone is explaining why a woman doesn't have a romantic partner. It's because she's grumpy and because she has two children.
"Lo" is working as a pronoun that replaces the situation.

When 'lo' precedes an adjective, it makes the adjective a noun.

I think "por lo huraña y dos hijos" means "through/because of her reclusiveness and two children" (not necessarily sons).

Thank you Rusty - absolutely correct she has one of each.
Also interesting to learn that the adjective is made a noun.
Very good

Thank you Angelica,

Yes the author is a blind person describing the people in his neighbourhood in his early life.
To provide more context.
El Colectivero era recién llegado de la provincia de Mendoza y tenía una mujer, que pocos habían visto por la huraña y dos hijos.

So she does have a husband. Does the use of "la huraña" infer anything about their relationship as you suggested above?
I don't quite see how it follows that because she is grumpy and has two children that few people would have seen her. Having two children should not make her less visible - children often cause you to meet more people.

So "por" translates as "because" in this instance and "la huraña" as " the woman was grumpy" - no need for a verb "ser". Is this some type of shorthand way of speaking or is it technically correct.

... pocos habían visto, por lo huraña y dos hijos

huraño = shy, elusive / tending to reject contact with people or any manifestation of affection

it means the woman went out little because her unsociable temperament and also because having two children had her busy taking care of them.

You have there an Americanism (specifically, from the Southern Hemisphere): colectivero (bus driver)

Nothing, but there was no context, so "those who never saw her" could have been possible suitors.
If it was simply the people living nearby, as Alec said, she was just not sociable, and she also had plenty of work at home to go out and meet the neighborhood.


Some cultural issues here: If this is a situation in the past, women had little to do outside their homes; they had a reputation as good housewives to care for.
Apart from that, it's only very recently that the fact of having children has involved some compulsory social life; long ago, not even meetings at schools were a part of parents' lives. (If you were called from school, it meant your child was in trouble.)


Yes, "por" introduces a cause, and it doesn't need an extra verb:
- Cerrado por remodelación. (Closed for improvements.)
- Murió por causas naturales. (He/she died of natural causes.)
- Esto me pasa por tonto. (This is what I get for being stupid.)

*Side note: Please note that the sentence says "lo huraña". "Lo" is working as a pronoun that makes "huraña" the whole situation of the woman's character.
"La huraña" means something different: this article would turn the adjective "huraña" into a noun, so "la huraña" would be the woman herself, not the fact that she is a reclusive person.

Thank you very good

Thank you very informative