Learn Spanish (Latin America): ¿Fuiste a la excursión con el guía? - Did you go on the excursion with the guide?

¿Fuiste a la excursión con el guía?

Did you go on the excursion with the guide?

Breakdown of ¿Fuiste a la excursión con el guía?

Questions & Answers about ¿Fuiste a la excursión con el guía?

Wait, fuiste is the past tense for both ser (to be) and ir (to go). How do I know which one it is here?

Context is your best friend here! The verb ir is almost always followed by the preposition a (to) when heading somewhere. Since we have fuiste a (you went to), it's clearly the verb ir. If it were ser, it would mean 'Were you to the excursion?', which doesn't make sense in Spanish or English.

The word guía ends in 'a'. Why does it use the masculine article el?

The word guía is special because it can be masculine or feminine depending on who you are talking about. El guía refers to a male guide, and la guía refers to a female guide. (Fun fact: la guía can also mean a printed guidebook or manual!)

The English translation says 'go ON the excursion', but the Spanish uses a (to). Why not use en?

In Spanish, the verb ir (to go) is strongly tied to the preposition a to show movement toward a destination or event. While in English we say 'go on a trip' or 'go on an excursion', a Spanish speaker literally says they are going 'to' it (ir a la excursión).

Why is there an accent mark on excursión?