Learn Spanish (Spain): Van a la ciudad mañana. - They are going to the city tomorrow.

Van a la ciudad mañana.

They are going to the city tomorrow.

Breakdown of Van a la ciudad mañana.

Questions & Answers about Van a la ciudad mañana.

Why doesn't the sentence start with Ellos or Ellas for 'They'?

In Spanish, you can often leave out subject pronouns like ellos (they, masculine) or ellas (they, feminine) because the verb itself tells you who is doing the action. Van is the 'they' form of ir (to go), so the pronoun is already understood.

Can van mean both 'they go' and 'they are going'?

Yes! The Spanish present tense covers both the simple present ('they go') and the present continuous ('they are going'). Because this sentence includes mañana (tomorrow), it translates naturally to 'They are going' to express a future plan.

Why do we need the word a after van?

The preposition a means 'to'. Whenever you use the verb ir (to go) to talk about moving toward a destination, you must follow it with a. Together, van a means 'they are going to'.

Doesn't mañana mean 'morning'? Why is it translated as 'tomorrow' here?

The word mañana does double duty in Spanish. When used with a feminine article like la or una (la mañana), it means 'the morning'. However, when it stands alone as a time word, as it does at the end of this sentence, it means 'tomorrow'.