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Five-minute Spanish Lessons - Lesson 25.Prepositions (1).Spanish preposition "a" and English translations.Voy a la piscina. I'm going to the swimming-pool. ( a + el = al ) Voy al mercado. I'm going to the market. Firstly, we should look at examples where the preposition "a" is not used: Spanish "a" doesn't translate from English at in phrases like: Está en el colegio todo el día. Mi esposa está en la consulta del médico. El avión aterrizó en el Aeropuerto de Barajas. Spanish does not suppress the article "the" when a student of an institution as in: Los alumnos fueron al colegio (a la escuela) / al instituto esta mañana. The students went to school / to high school / this morning. La madre de Juan fue al colegio para hablar con el director. Juan's mother went to the school to speak to the headmaster. (Not a student, so with "the".) Also similarly for hospital, prison, etc. Spanish makes no distinction between whether we are talking about patient or inmates (no "the") or just visiting: Después de la sentencia llevaron a Paco a la cárcel. La madre de Juan cogió el autobus a la cárcel para visitarle. Juan's mother took the bus to the prison to visit him. Learners of Spanish can appreciate that Spanish "a" is often used to translate English to when it means "towards" or an approximate meaning of "towards". In fact, Spanish "a" is used with nearly all verbs of motion and is used with adverb particles + to: into, onto, on, down, up and "at" when preceded by a verb of motion. Fuimos / a que / para que / nos diera cita. Subimos al coche. Bajamos a la primera planta. Las hojas bajaron al desagüe. Subió al Everest. The verb subir suggests more strongly that the summit was reached. Subir usually takes "a" in this context. Teníamos que esperar para subir al avión. El bebé (se) subió a la silla. But, Quiero poner esta lámpara en la pared / en el techo / en el suelo. But then, She fainted and fell down / on / onto / the floor. El niño tiró una piedra a la ventana. However, note, arrive is not considered a verb of motion so we can never say arrive to in English. But Spanish usually uses "a" with llegar: ¿A qué hora llegamos a Madrid? What time do we arrive in Madrid? "In" is used when driving by car or on foot. ¿A qué hora llegamos a Madrid? What time do we arrive at Madrid? "At" is used when referring to a train station, bus station or an airport. But English often substitutes arrive for get to: Llegué tarde al trabajo esta mañana. The English "to" is omitted when get is used with "home", as with other verbs of motion but "a" is not omitted in Spanish: Llegamos a casa sobre las dos. ¿Sabes qué? Mi gato ha vuelto a casa. ¡Perro malo! ¡Vete a casa!
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