El heredero consulta al legatario.

Because Spanish uses the personal a before a specific person who is the direct object of the verb.

Here, el heredero is the subject, and legatario is the person receiving the action of consultar. So Spanish requires a:

• El heredero consulta a el legatario → this contracts to al legatario

So al here is not the indirect object marker. It is simply:

• a + el = al

This is very common with people:

• Veo al abogado
• Llamo al médico
• Consulta al legatario

Al is the contraction of a + el.

Spanish normally contracts these two words:

• a + el = al
• de + el = del

So:

• a el legatario is incorrect
• al legatario is correct

Important: this contraction only happens with the masculine singular article el, not with other articles:

• a la heredera
• a los herederos
• a las herederas

Consultar is the infinitive, meaning to consult.

In the sentence, the verb is conjugated to match the subject el heredero:

• consultar = infinitive
• consulta = he/she consults

Since el heredero is third person singular, the verb must also be third person singular present indicative:

• yo consulto
• tú consultas
• él / ella consulta

So El heredero consulta al legatario means The heir consults the legatee.

You know from both word order and the personal a.

• El heredero comes before the verb, so it is the subject
• al legatario is marked with the personal a, so it is the person being consulted

So the roles are:

• el heredero = the one who consults
• al legatario = the person consulted

This is helpful because in English, both nouns might look equally possible, but in Spanish the personal a strongly points to the direct object.

Because both heredero and legatario are singular masculine nouns, and here they are presented as specific people:

• el heredero = the heir
• el legatario = the legatee

In the second phrase, the article appears inside the contraction al:

• al legatario = a + el legatario

So even though you do not see el by itself, it is still there grammatically.

They are both legal/inheritance terms, but they are not exactly the same.

• heredero = heir, someone who inherits all or part of an estate as an heir
• legatario = legatee, someone who receives a specific bequest or legacy

So this sentence uses fairly formal legal vocabulary, not everyday casual words.

Often yes, but the Spanish grammar is worth noticing.

In this sentence, consultar takes a direct object person:

• consultar a alguien = to consult someone

That is why we get:

• consulta al legatario

This can feel a little different from English, where learners may also think of consult with. Spanish can express that idea too, but the structure changes.

Yes, but it is not exactly the same structure.

• consultar a alguien = to consult someone
• consultar con alguien = to consult with someone

So:

• El heredero consulta al legatario focuses on the legatee as the direct object
• El heredero consulta con el legatario sounds more like the heir consults with the legatee

Both can be possible depending on context, but the original sentence uses the more direct pattern.

In this sentence, consulta is clearly a verb.

Why?

Because the structure is:

• El heredero = subject
• consulta = verb
• al legatario = object

Spanish does have a noun la consulta, meaning things like consultation, medical office, or query, but here it cannot be a noun because of the sentence structure.

Yes, but the basic neutral order is:

• Subject + Verb + Object
• El heredero consulta al legatario

Spanish is more flexible than English, so other orders are possible for emphasis, for example:

• Al legatario lo consulta el heredero

But that sounds more marked or emphatic. For a learner, the original order is the most natural and easiest to understand.

Yes, the articles and noun endings would change as needed.

For example:

• La heredera consulta a la legataria

Notice two things:

1. el / la change to match gender
2. There is no contraction with a + la, so you say a la, not ala

Compare:

• al legatario = a + el legatario
• a la legataria = no contraction

In standard Spanish pronunciation from Spain, it is roughly:

• con-SOOL-ta

More precisely:

• c before o sounds like k
• the stress falls on sul

So consulta is pronounced approximately kon-SOOL-ta.

The full sentence would sound roughly like:

• El e-re-DE-ro con-SOOL-ta al le-ga-TA-rio

Not really. It is grammatically simple, but the vocabulary is quite formal and legal.

Words like:

• heredero
• legatario

belong more to inheritance law, wills, or formal documents than to everyday conversation.

So this is a good sentence for learning grammar, especially:

• the present tense
• the personal a
• the contraction al
• subject/object roles in Spanish