Emocionar: It's So Moving!

Moving right along, with Natalia's proud papa, we come across this line:

Lo que más me emociona... es lo que te dije anteriormente.

What moves me the most... it's what I told you previously.

Captions 79-80, Biografía - Natalia Oreiro - Part 8
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You see, emocionarse is a reflexive verb meaning "to be moved [by]." Like the verbs gustar or encantar (which we wrote about in this space before), emocionar agrees with the object of the sentence -- i.e., whatever it is that is moving -- instead of the speaker.

To see emocionarse at work, we are featuring a touching interview with the Mexican musical group Belanova this week. Here are the examples we gleaned from their interview:

...es porque les emociona nuestro proyecto.

...it's because they are moved by our project. (Or: ...it's because our project moves them.)

Caption 28, Belanova - Entrevista - Part 3
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Que nos emociona mucho hacerlo, que es lo más importante...

That really moves us when doing it, which is the most important...

Caption 39, Belanova - Entrevista - Part 3
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...que a toda la gente que ve a Belanova se emociona.

...which moves all the people who see Belanova.

Caption 41, Belanova - Entrevista - Part 3
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In the examples above, note that emociona (the third personal singular, present form of emocionar) agrees with the project, action or sight that is considered moving. Meanwhile, the object pronouns les (for "them"), nos (for "us") and se (for "everyone" -- i.e., toda la gente) let us know who is being moved by the subject in each of the examples above.

A Ana y María les emocionan las películas de amor antiguas.
Ana and Maria are moved by old love films.

Estas historias nos emocionan mucho.
These stories really move us.