les gustaban o se gustaban?

[larissam]

Hi all, i'm writing a speech and i'm trying to say 'they liked each other but maria's stepmother broke them up'.
I've been told that for impersonal cases you use 'se gustaban' to say they liked each other but in this case, it is not impersonal, the characters are known.

So this is the sentence i've tried to write:

'Les gustaban uno al otro pero la madrastra de Maria les rompió'.

Is this correct or should it be se gustaban? and without the uno al otro?

thanks in advance!!

[wrholt]

The pronoun "se" wears many hats. In addition to impersonal cases and to cases of passive 'se', it also is the only third-person pronoun one uses in "pronominal" cases, where the subject and the object are identical. The expression "el uno al otro" almost invariably signals a "pronominal" use. Your sentence should be:

Se gustaban el uno al otro pero la madrastra de María les rompió.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

I agree with wrholt. However, the sentence sounds incomplete.
When reading "la madrastra les rompió"... we tend to ask: What did she break to/for them??

If she was the cause for the breaking up, this must be clearly stated:
-...pero la madrastra de María los hizo romper.
-...pero la madrastra de María hizo que rompieran.
-...pero rompieron por culpa de la madrastra de María.
-...pero rompieron a causa de la madrastra de María.
. . .

[usariodelforo]

Literally, I'd translate it as: 'Ellos se gustaban un al otro pero la madrastra los quebró.' But that sounds really literal. I'd say instead: 'Ellos se gustaban uno al otro pero la madrastra hizo que se separaran.' That reads, 'They liked one another but the stepmother made them separate.'

I hope that helps!

I wouldn't use the literal translation. It sounds weird!