Word
El sábado vamos a celebrar el cumpleaños de mi vecina, que cumple diecisiete y quiere una tarta sencilla.
Meaning
On Saturday we are going to celebrate my neighbor’s birthday; she is turning seventeen and wants a simple cake.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of El sábado vamos a celebrar el cumpleaños de mi vecina, que cumple diecisiete y quiere una tarta sencilla.
querer
to want
una
a
mi
my
nosotros
we
Questions & Answers about El sábado vamos a celebrar el cumpleaños de mi vecina, que cumple diecisiete y quiere una tarta sencilla.
Why does the sentence start with El sábado instead of just sábado?
In Spanish, days of the week often take the article el when you mean on a particular day or when talking about a regular day in general.
So El sábado vamos a celebrar... means On Saturday we’re going to celebrate...
A few useful comparisons:
- El sábado = on Saturday
- Los sábados = on Saturdays / every Saturday
Unlike English, Spanish often uses the article where English does not.
Why is it vamos a celebrar instead of a simple future form like celebraremos?
Vamos a + infinitive is a very common way to talk about the near future in everyday Spanish.
So:
- vamos a celebrar = we’re going to celebrate
- celebraremos = we will celebrate
Both are correct, but vamos a celebrar sounds very natural and conversational here. A learner should get used to this structure because it is extremely common in spoken Spanish.
What exactly does vamos a + infinitive mean, and how is it formed?