Learn Spanish (Latin America): Tenemos que llegar al banco al mediodía.

Tenemos que llegar al banco al mediodía.

We have to arrive at the bank at noon.

Breakdown of Tenemos que llegar al banco al mediodía.

Questions & Answers about Tenemos que llegar al banco al mediodía.

Why is it "al mediodía" instead of "a las mediodía" like we use for other times?

When telling time, you usually use a las because you are referring to las horas (the hours), which is feminine and plural. However, mediodía is a masculine singular noun meaning "midday" or "noon". To say "at noon", you use a (at) + el (the), which must combine to form the contraction al.

Could I just say "a las doce" instead?

Absolutely! Just like in English, you can choose to say "at twelve" (a las doce) or "at noon" (al mediodía). Both are perfectly correct and natural in Spanish.

Why is there a "que" between "Tenemos" and "llegar"?

On its own, the verb tener means "to have" (like owning an object). But when you want to say you "have to" do an action, you must use the phrase tener que followed by the unconjugated action word (the infinitive). Therefore, tenemos que llegar means "we have to arrive."

I see "al" appears twice in this sentence. Does it mean the exact same thing both times?

Grammatically, yes! al is always a mandatory contraction of the preposition a and the masculine word for "the", el. You can never write a el together. However, it translates slightly differently in English based on the context: al banco means "to the bank", while al mediodía means "at noon".