Learn Spanish (Latin America): ¿Cuándo vas al aeropuerto?

In Spanish, the simple present tense is very flexible. It is often used to talk about things happening right now or in the near future. So, vas can mean "you go," "you are going," or even "you will go" depending on the context.

What is the word al doing here?

The word al means "to the". It is a mandatory contraction of the preposition a (to) and the masculine article el (the). Because aeropuerto is a masculine word (el aeropuerto), saying a el is incorrect. They must combine into al.

Where is the word for "you" in this sentence?

In Spanish, the subject pronoun (tú for informal "you") is usually dropped. The verb form vas (you go) already makes it perfectly clear who is going. You could say ¿Cuándo tú vas...? but it sounds unnatural unless you are adding special emphasis.

Why does ¿Cuándo? have an accent mark over the "a"?

Question words in Spanish always carry a written accent mark when used in a question or exclamation. This helps tell the question word apart from the regular statement version of the same word (for example, when saying "I will call you when I arrive").