Questions & Answers about ¿Cuándo vas al aeropuerto?
Why does the sentence use al instead of a el?
In Spanish, when the preposition a (to) is immediately followed by the masculine singular article el (the), they must combine to form the contraction al. Since aeropuerto is masculine (el aeropuerto), we say al aeropuerto (to the airport) instead of a el aeropuerto.
The English translation says "are you going", but vas usually means "you go". Why don't we use a different verb form here?
In Spanish, the simple present tense (vas) is very often used to talk about actions happening in the near future. Using the simple present is the most natural way to ask about immediate plans, so "When do you go?" and "When are you going?" both translate perfectly to ¿Cuándo vas?.
Where is the word for "you" in this sentence?
It is built right into the verb! Vas specifically means "you go" or "you are going" (for the informal singular "you"). In Spanish, you usually drop the subject pronoun (tú) because the verb's unique ending already tells us exactly who is doing the action.
Why does Cuándo have an accent mark on the "a"?
In Spanish, all question words (like qué, dónde, and cuándo) get an accent mark when they are used in a question. This helps distinguish them in writing from the exact same words when they are used as connectors in normal statements (like saying "I will tell you when I arrive").
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