Learn Hardcore Spanish (Latin America): Algunas personas prefieren estudiar en la biblioteca. - Some people prefer to study at the library.

Algunas is an indefinite adjective meaning some (but not all).
It must agree in gender and number with personas (which is feminine plural), so we use algunas, not algunos.
Unos personas is incorrect, because unos is masculine plural and personas is feminine.
You normally cannot drop the determiner with a subject like this in Spanish, so ∗Personas prefieren estudiar… sounds incomplete or wrong.
You could say unas personas, but algunas personas is more common and slightly more natural here to express some people as a subset of all people.

Why is algunas feminine? Aren’t we talking about men and women?

The word persona is grammatically feminine in Spanish, even if it refers to a man.
- una persona = a person (man or woman)
- personas = people (mixed or same gender)
Adjectives and determiners must match the noun’s grammatical gender, not the real-life gender.
So we say algunas personas (feminine plural) even if the group is all men.

What verb form is prefieren, and which subject does it go with?

The infinitive is preferir (to prefer), a stem‑changing verb (e → ie).
Prefieren is:
- 3rd person plural, present tense: ellos/ellas/ustedes prefieren.
Here, the subject is algunas personas (they), so we use prefieren (they prefer).
A quick present‑tense chart (Latin America use of ustedes):
- yo prefiero
- tú prefieres
- él / ella / usted prefiere
- nosotros / nosotras preferimos
- ustedes / ellos / ellas prefieren

Why is it prefieren estudiar and not something like prefieren a estudiar?

In Spanish, many verbs are followed directly by an infinitive with no preposition.
Preferir + infinitive works like this:
- Prefiero estudiar en casa. – I prefer to study at home.
- Ellos prefieren viajar en verano. – They prefer to travel in summer.
So: prefieren estudiar = they prefer to study, and a is not used here.

Why is estudiar in the infinitive instead of a conjugated form like estudian?

Prefieren is the main verb; estudiar is the action they prefer.
After verbs like querer, poder, necesitar, preferir, saber (meaning “to know how”), etc., the second verb is usually in the infinitive:
- Quieren estudiar. – They want to study.
- Pueden estudiar. – They can study.
- Prefieren estudiar. – They prefer to study.
If you said Algunas personas estudian en la biblioteca, that would mean simply Some people study at the library (a fact), without expressing preference.

Why do we say en la biblioteca and not a la biblioteca?

En is used for location (where something happens):
- en la biblioteca – in/at the library
- en casa – at home
A usually shows movement toward a place:
- Voy a la biblioteca. – I’m going to the library.
In the sentence Algunas personas prefieren estudiar en la biblioteca, we’re talking about where they study (location), not movement, so en is correct.

Why is it la biblioteca and not una biblioteca?

Both are possible, but they mean slightly different things:

en la biblioteca – usually implies a specific or known library, or “the library” in general as an institution (e.g., the campus library).
en una biblioteca – “in a library,” any library, not specified.

Spanish tends to use the definite article (el, la, los, las) more than English for places and institutions, so en la biblioteca feels very natural here, similar to English “at the library.”

Can you say ∗estudiar en biblioteca without the article?

Normally, no. A noun like biblioteca usually needs an article or another determiner:
- en la biblioteca, en una biblioteca, en esta biblioteca, etc.
There are a few institutional nouns where the article is sometimes dropped (like en clase, en casa in some regions), but biblioteca is not usually one of them.
So en biblioteca sounds incomplete or incorrect in standard Spanish.

Why is it la biblioteca and not el biblioteca? How do I know the gender?

Biblioteca ends in -a and is feminine, so it takes la:
- la biblioteca – the library
Many (not all) nouns ending in -a are feminine; many ending in -o are masculine (el libro, el banco).
Gender must be memorized word by word, but endings give strong clues:
- -ción, -sión, -dad, -tad, -umbre, -ie → usually feminine
- -o, -ma, -pa (many of these) → usually masculine
So: la biblioteca, never ∗el biblioteca.

Why personas and not gente?

Personas is a regular countable plural noun: one person → una persona, several people → unas/algunas personas.
Gente is a collective noun and is grammatically singular:
- La gente prefiere estudiar en la biblioteca. – People prefer to study at the library.
You can’t say ∗algunas gentes in standard usage to mean some people; you’d use:
- Algunas personas prefieren…
- or Mucha gente prefiere…
So algunas personas is the normal way to say some people as individuals.

How is prefieren estudiar en la biblioteca pronounced, especially b and v?

Key points:

In Spanish, b and v are pronounced the same.
- biblioteca and a word with v elsewhere would use the same sound.
Word stress:
- Al-GU-nas per-SO-nas pre-FIE-ren es-tu-DI-ar en la bi-blio-TE-ca
The b in biblioteca:
- At the start of a word or after m or n, it’s a full [b] sound: [biblioˈteka].
Vowels are short and clear; no schwa sound like English “uh.”

Is there any difference if I say En la biblioteca, algunas personas prefieren estudiar?

Grammatically, both sentences are correct:
- Algunas personas prefieren estudiar en la biblioteca.
- En la biblioteca, algunas personas prefieren estudiar.
The meaning is basically the same, but the emphasis shifts:
- Original: focuses first on some people and what they prefer.
- Reordered: starts by setting the place (En la biblioteca) as the context.
Spanish allows this kind of word order change for emphasis or style.