Breakdown of Hoy voy a pasear con mi familia.
Questions & Answers about Hoy voy a pasear con mi familia.
Why do we use voy a pasear to say "I am going to take a walk"?
This is the near future construction! To say what someone is going to do, you use the verb ir (to go), plus the word a (to), plus an action word in its basic, unaltered form (the infinitive). Here, voy means "I am going", a connects the verbs, and pasear is the basic form for "take a walk". Why do we need the a in voy a pasear? Can I just say voy pasear?
You always need the a when using this "going to" construction. In English, the "to" is part of the action ("to take a walk"), but in Spanish, the formula for the near future is strictly ir + a + infinitive. Without the a, it sounds grammatically broken to a Spanish speaker. Does pasear just mean "to walk"?
It translates closely to "take a walk" or "stroll" for pleasure. If you were walking just to get from point A to point B, you would usually use the verb caminar. Pasear implies a relaxed, enjoyable outing, which fits perfectly with going out with your family! Where is the word for "I" in this sentence?
In Spanish, the "I" (yo) is usually left out because the verb already tells us who is doing the action. The word voy can only mean "I am going". You could technically say Hoy yo voy a pasear, but dropping the yo is much more natural. A family has multiple people in it, so why do we use the singular mi instead of the plural mis?
Even though a family consists of many people, the word familia itself is a singular noun (one family group). In Spanish, possessive words like mi (my) change to match the noun they are attached to. Since familia is singular, we use mi, just like you would for mi libro (my book). Learn Hoy voy a pasear con mi familia and more in Spanish
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