El veros a todos

[Tyrn]

Hi,

El veros a todos aquí me renueva la esperanza.

What el is doing here (if it's not a typo)?

[wrholt]

It's not a typo; it's the definite article meaning "the".

In this sentence the subject is "el veros a todos aquí": the head noun is the infinitive "ver", which is accompanied by its direct object, "os a todos", and an adverb, "aquí".

In English we would use the gerund "seeing" as a noun in contexts like your sentence, while Spanish uses the infinitive "ver" as a noun.

English typically does not allow using an article with a gerund in this type of context. However, Spanish frequently allows using an article with an infinitive in this type of context, and sometimes Spanish requires using an article.

[Tomisimo]

As wrholt mentioned, using "el" before a verb infinitive allows you to use it as a noun, similar to how the gerund is used in English.