Breakdown of Voy a visitar Madrid en julio con mi familia.
yo
I
en
in
con
with
mi
my
la familia
the family
visitar
to visit
a
to
ir
to go
Madrid
Madrid
julio
July
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Questions & Answers about Voy a visitar Madrid en julio con mi familia.
What exactly does the structure voy a visitar mean and why is it used instead of the simple future tense visitaré?
The pattern ir + a + infinitive (here voy a visitar) expresses a planned or imminent action in the near future—much like “I am going to visit.” It’s very common in conversational Spanish. The simple future (visitaré) also exists, but it sounds more formal or distant (“I will visit”).
Why is there no article before Madrid?
In Spanish, proper names of cities don’t take an article. You just say Madrid, not la Madrid or el Madrid. Some countries or regions do use an article (for example la Argentina in certain dialects), but cities remain bare.
Why is it en julio and not a julio or el julio?
To talk about months, Spanish uses the preposition en with no article: en julio means “in July.”
- a julio would imply movement toward July (“to July”), which sounds odd.
- el julio can appear in very colloquial speech, but it’s not standard.
Why is it con mi familia? Do I need la before familia?
You use con (“with”) to indicate accompaniment: con mi familia = “with my family.” When you have a possessive adjective (mi), you drop the definite article—so never con la mi familia, just con mi familia.
Could I say iré a visitar Madrid or iré visitar Madrid?
- iré a visitar Madrid is grammatically correct but a bit redundant: you’re using iré (“I will go”) and a visitar (“to visit”) together.
- iré visitar Madrid (omitting the second a) is incorrect.
Better alternatives:
• visitaré Madrid (“I will visit Madrid”)
• iré a Madrid (“I will go to Madrid”)
Why don’t we use the personal a before Madrid in visitar Madrid?
The personal a marks human (or sometimes animal) direct objects, not places. You say visitar Madrid without a. If you were visiting a person, e.g. your grandmother, you’d say visitar a mi abuela.
What’s the difference between visitar Madrid and ir a Madrid?
• ir a Madrid means “to go to Madrid” (emphasis on the movement).
• visitar Madrid means “to visit Madrid” (emphasis on touring or sight-seeing once you’re there). They can overlap in English, but in Spanish each verb highlights a different aspect.