Questions & Answers about Vamos a celebrar el cumpleaños del niño.
How do we know who is going to celebrate if there is no word for "we"?
The word vamos is the "we" form of the verb ir (to go). In Spanish, the pronoun nosotros (we) is usually dropped because the verb itself already tells us who is doing the action. Here, it is part of the ir a + infinitive formula used to talk about the near future, just like "going to" in English. Why don't we change the ending of celebrar to match "we"?
In the near future structure (ir a + infinitive), only the first verb (ir) changes to match the person doing the action (in this case, vamos). The second verb tells us what the action is, so it stays in its basic, unchanged dictionary form (celebrar). Why is the word del used instead of just translating "the boy's"?
Spanish doesn't use an apostrophe-s ('s) to show possession. Instead, you have to say "the birthday of the boy" (el cumpleaños de el niño). Whenever the preposition de (of) is followed directly by el (the masculine word for "the"), they must combine to form the contraction del. Why does cumpleaños end in an "s" if we are only celebrating one birthday?
Cumpleaños is a compound word made from cumple (completes) and años (years). Because it is built with the plural word años, it always ends in "s", even when it is singular. We know it refers to a single birthday in this sentence because it is paired with the singular word for "the", which is el. Learn Vamos a celebrar el cumpleaños del niño and more in Spanish
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