 Personal
A
Although normally prepositions are not used in front of direct
objects, in Spanish there is a special preposition called the
personal a which precedes direct
objects that refer to people, personified nouns, and animals.
| Veo a mi hermano. |
I see my brother. |
| ¿Quieres a Miguel? |
Do you like Miguel? |
| ¡Invitemos a nuestros profesores! |
Let's invite our teachers! |
| Todo el mundo teme a la muerte. |
Everyone fears death. |
| Compré a un perro. |
I bought a dog. |
The personal a is also used in
front of pronouns that replace people.
| Veo a alguien. |
I see someone. |
| No quiere a nadie. |
He doesn't love anyone. |
- Invité a mi hermano.
- ¿Invitaste a lo mío? |
- I invited my brother.
- Did you invite mine? |
The personal a is used in front
of interrogative words like quién and cuánto when the answer to the question would require the personal a.
- ¿A quién llamaste?
- Llamé a Paco. |
- Who did you call?
- I called Pac. |
- ¿A cuántos conoces?
- Conozco a Ana y Luís. |
- How many (of the people) do you know?
- I know Ana and Luís. |
The personal a is usually not
used after the verb tener, with collective nouns, and with
nouns referring to unspecified people.
| Tengo dos hermanos. |
I have two brothers. |
| Vi el grupo ayer. |
I saw the group yesterday. |
| Buscamos un cantador. |
We're looking for a singer. |
Also see my list of Spanish
verbs with a.
Spanish prepositions
Spanish grammar
Subscribe to the free
e Learn Spanish Language
weekly newsletter |
 |
© Laura K. Lawless All rights reserved.
About Me ~ About This Site
| 
