Vamos a vacunar, esterilizar y desparasitar.

We are going to vaccinate, sterilize, and deworm.

Breakdown of Vamos a vacunar, esterilizar y desparasitar.

• y: and
• ir a: to be going to
• vacunar: to vaccinate
• esterilizar: to sterilize

Questions & Answers about Vamos a vacunar, esterilizar y desparasitar.

What does vamos a vacunar, esterilizar y desparasitar mean grammatically?

It uses the very common Spanish pattern ir + a + infinitive, which means to be going to + verb.

So:

• vamos = we go / we are going
• a = part of the future expression
• vacunar, esterilizar, desparasitar = infinitives, like to vaccinate, to sterilize/spay-neuter, to deworm

So the structure is:

• vamos a vacunar
• vamos a esterilizar
• vamos a desparasitar

Spanish avoids repeating vamos a, so only the first one is stated.

Why is there an a after vamos?

Because vamos a + infinitive is a fixed future construction in Spanish.

Here, a does not mean to in the same way it does in English by itself. It is simply part of the pattern:

• voy a comer = I’m going to eat
• vamos a ayudar = we’re going to help
• van a salir = they’re going to leave

So in this sentence, a is required after vamos.

Why are vacunar, esterilizar, and desparasitar in the infinitive?