Question 1

Why is there no word for "Are" or "you" in this question?

Accepted Answer

Vas is the "you" (informal) form of the verb ir (to go). Because the verb itself tells us who is doing the action, we can drop the word tú (you). Also, Spanish doesn't use helper words like "Are" or "Do" to make a question. You just use the standard sentence order with question marks (¿ ?) and a rising tone of voice!

Question 2

Why does the Spanish sentence say "to the school" (a la escuela) instead of just "to school"?

Accepted Answer

In English, we often drop the word "the" for places like school, work, or church. In Spanish, you almost always need to include the article (the word for "the"). Since escuela is a feminine word, we use la, making it a la escuela.

Question 3

I remember seeing al used when talking about going places. Why are we using a la here?

Accepted Answer

You use al when the place you are going to is masculine. It is a mandatory mash-up of a (to) and el (the masculine word for "the"). Because escuela is feminine, it uses la. The words a and la never combine, so they stay separate as a la.

Question 4

Does the word pronto change if the person going is male or female?

Accepted Answer

No, pronto (soon) never changes. It describes the action of going, not a masculine or feminine person. Words like this (adverbs) don't have gender or plural forms in Spanish, so it will always just be pronto.

¿Vas a la escuela pronto?

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