Breakdown of ¿Por qué los niños no van al parque?
el niño
the boy
no
no, not
los
the (masculine plural)
el parque
park
Questions & Answers about ¿Por qué los niños no van al parque?
Why does the sentence use al parque instead of a el parque?
When the preposition a (to) is followed by the masculine word for 'the' (el), they always combine to form the contraction al. In Spanish, you will never see a el written as separate words for a destination.
The translation says 'aren't going', but isn't van just 'they go'?
In Spanish, the simple present tense covers both general habits ('they go') and actions happening right now ('they are going'). Because of this, no van translates perfectly to 'aren't going' in this context.
Why is no placed before van?
Why is Por qué written as two words here?
When it means 'Why?' as a question word, it is always written as two words with an accent mark on the last letter: ¿Por qué?. If you see it written as one single word without an accent (porque), it means 'because'.