Learn Spanish (Latin America): Empiezo a tocar el piano en la escuela. - I am starting to play the piano at school.

Empiezo a tocar el piano en la escuela.

I am starting to play the piano at school.

Breakdown of Empiezo a tocar el piano en la escuela.

to play (an instrument)

Questions & Answers about Empiezo a tocar el piano en la escuela.

Why is there an a between empiezo and tocar?

In Spanish, the verb empezar (to start/begin) always requires the preposition a when it connects to an infinitive verb (an unconjugated verb like tocar). The formula is always empezar a + [infinitive].

Why is it empiezo and not empezo?

Empezar is a stem-changing verb in the present tense. For the 'yo' (I) form, the e in the stem changes to ie, making it empiezo. This vowel change happens for all present tense subjects except nosotros/nosotras.

I thought 'to play' was jugar. Why is it tocar here?

Spanish uses two different verbs for 'to play'. You use jugar for sports and games, but for playing musical instruments, you must use tocar (which literally means 'to touch').

The translation is 'I am starting', but empiezo is simple present tense. Shouldn't it be estoy empezando?

In Spanish, the simple present tense (empiezo) is frequently used to express actions happening right now or ongoing situations, which English expresses with 'am/is/are' + '-ing'. While you could say estoy empezando, the simple present is very common and completely natural here.