La mamá quiere alimentar al cachorro en la cocina.

Al is a contraction of a + el. In Spanish, a el always becomes al:

• a + el = al
• a + la = a la (no contraction)

So:

• ❌ La mamá quiere alimentar a el cachorro…
• ✅ La mamá quiere alimentar al cachorro…

Here, a is the “personal a,” used when the direct object is a specific person or beloved animal (like a pet). Because el cachorro is a specific puppy, you get:

• a + el cachorro → al cachorro

Spanish often uses the personal a before a specific, animate direct object, especially people and pets.

• English: The mom wants to feed the puppy.
• Spanish: La mamá quiere alimentar al cachorro.

Grammatically:

• alimentar = verb
• al cachorro = direct object, introduced by a (personal a)

You don’t translate a into English here. It doesn’t mean “to” in the English sense; it just marks that the direct object is a living, specific being.

Compare:

• Quiero ver a mi hermano. (I want to see my brother.)
• Quiero ver la película. (I want to see the movie.) – no a because a movie isn’t a person or pet.

Literally, La mamá means “the mom.” Whether it implies my, his, her, their depends on context.

Possible interpretations:

• La mamá quiere alimentar al cachorro.
  
  • In isolation: The mom wants to feed the puppy.
  • In context: could be “the puppy’s mom” or “the child’s mom” just mentioned.

To say “my mom” clearly, you would usually say:

• Mi mamá quiere alimentar al cachorro. – My mom wants to feed the puppy.

Using la mamá instead of a possessive can sound more narrative or descriptive, like:

• Talking about a family: La mamá cocina, el papá trabaja, y los hijos juegan.

In Spanish, rooms in a house usually take a definite article when you refer to them as locations:

• en la cocina – in the kitchen
• en la sala – in the living room
• en el baño – in the bathroom
• en el dormitorio / en la habitación – in the bedroom

So:

• ✅ La mamá quiere alimentar al cachorro en la cocina.
• ❌ …en cocina (sounds wrong or incomplete unless used in certain fixed phrases like trabaja en cocina in restaurant jargon).

The article la shows we are talking about a specific kitchen, usually the one in the house we have in mind.

Both can translate as “to feed”, but use and tone differ:

• alimentar

  • More formal/neutral or technical.
  • Can be physical or metaphorical:
    
    • alimentar al cachorro – feed the puppy
    • alimentar la economía – fuel the economy
    • alimentar la esperanza – feed hope

• dar de comer (a)

  • Very common in everyday speech, especially for people and animals.
  • Sounds more colloquial, more like what people actually say at home:
    
    • La mamá quiere darle de comer al cachorro en la cocina.

Both are correct in the original sentence, but in everyday Latin American Spanish, many speakers would naturally say dar de comer.

When querer is followed by another verb, that second verb stays in the infinitive and does not take a:

• querer + infinitive
  
  • Quiero comer. – I want to eat.
  • Quiero dormir. – I want to sleep.
  • La mamá quiere alimentar al cachorro. – The mom wants to feed the puppy.

Using a (quiere a alimentar) would be wrong here. A is not needed between querer and the infinitive.

Yes. Spanish word order is flexible, especially for adverbial phrases like en la cocina. All of these are possible, with slightly different emphasis:

1. La mamá quiere alimentar al cachorro en la cocina.

   • Neutral; standard word order.

2. En la cocina, la mamá quiere alimentar al cachorro.

   • Emphasizes where this happens; more “scene-setting.”

3. La mamá, en la cocina, quiere alimentar al cachorro.

   • Adds en la cocina as an aside; more written or narrative style.

4. La mamá quiere, en la cocina, alimentar al cachorro.

   • Possible but sounds more stylized; often used in literary or very careful speech.

The meaning is essentially the same: she wants to feed the puppy, and the feeding occurs in the kitchen.

Cachorro is the masculine form. The feminine form is cachorra.

You would say:

• La mamá quiere alimentar a la cachorra en la cocina.

Changes:

• al cachorro (a + el) → a la cachorra (no contraction)
• Noun changes from cachorro → cachorra to match feminine gender.

Everything else stays the same.

Mamá has an accent to show which syllable is stressed:

• mamá → ma–MÁ (stress on the last syllable)
• Without the accent (mama) the stress would fall on MA–ma, and mama actually means “(he/she) sucks” or “udder / breast” in some contexts.

Pronunciation:

• mamá: /maˈma/ – like mah-MAH
• The written accent mark (á) indicates the stressed syllable.

So the accent is important: it distinguishes “mom” (mamá) from other words and marks the correct stress.

Yes, you can use a direct object pronoun instead of repeating al cachorro:

• La mamá quiere alimentar al cachorro en la cocina.
• La mamá quiere alimentarlo en la cocina.
• La mamá lo quiere alimentar en la cocina.

Notes:

• lo refers to el cachorro (masculine, singular).
• Pronoun placement:
  • Before a conjugated verb: La mamá lo quiere alimentar…
  • Attached to an infinitive: La mamá quiere alimentarlo…

Both versions are correct and natural. You usually don’t keep both the full noun and the pronoun together unless you’re using special emphasis in a different structure.

Quiere is the present indicative of querer (third person singular: he/she/it wants).

• La mamá quiere alimentar al cachorro…
  → The mom wants to feed the puppy…

In English, we often distinguish:

• She wants to feed the puppy. (simple)
• She is wanting to feed the puppy. (rare, usually ungrammatical or very marked)

Spanish uses the simple present (quiere) for:

• General or habitual actions:
  
  • Siempre quiere alimentar al cachorro en la cocina. – She always wants to feed the puppy in the kitchen.
• Current wishes/intents:
  
  • Ahora quiere alimentar al cachorro. – Right now she wants to feed the puppy.

You don’t need a continuous form for “is wanting” in Spanish; quiere covers that context.