Breakdown of El domingo iremos al zoológico con mis primos.
con
with
mi
my
a
to
ir
to go
el primo
the cousin
el domingo
the Sunday
el zoológico
the zoo
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Questions & Answers about El domingo iremos al zoológico con mis primos.
What is the function of El before domingo?
El is the definite article used with days of the week to mean “on Sunday.” In Spanish, you normally say el + day to express “on [day].” You can sometimes drop it in casual speech (e.g., answering “¿Qué día es hoy?” with “Domingo”), but in time expressions like this it’s standard.
Why is iremos used instead of vamos a ir?
Spanish offers two common ways to talk about the future:
- The simple future (e.g., iremos)
- The periphrastic future (vamos a ir)
Iremos is a single-word future tense and often sounds more formal or definitive. Vamos a ir is more colloquial and emphasizes a plan or intention, especially for events in the near future. Both are correct.
What tense and person is iremos?
Iremos is the first person plural (nosotros/nosotras) of the simple future tense of ir. It literally means “we will go.”
Why do we say al zoológico instead of a el zoológico?
In Spanish, a + el (the masculine singular article) always contracts to al. So a el zoológico becomes al zoológico. This contraction is mandatory.
Why does zoológico have an accent mark?
Zoológico is a proparoxytone word (stress on the antepenultimate syllable: zo-o-LO-gi-co). Spanish spelling rules require a written accent on proparoxytones.
Can you explain the preposition con?
Con means with. Here, con mis primos translates as “with my cousins,” indicating accompaniment.
Why is the possessive mis used before primos?
Mis is the plural form of mi (my). Since primos is plural, the possessive adjective must also be plural: mis primos = “my cousins.”
Who is the subject of iremos and why isn’t there a pronoun?
The subject is nosotros (“we”). Spanish often omits subject pronouns because the verb ending already shows who is performing the action. In iremos, the “-emos” ending tells you it’s first person plural.
Why isn’t domingo capitalized?
In Spanish, days of the week (and months) are not capitalized unless they begin a sentence. That’s why domingo stays lowercase here.
Can I place el domingo at the end of the sentence instead?
Yes. Spanish word order is flexible.
Iremos al zoológico con mis primos el domingo
is perfectly correct and has the same meaning.