Question 1

Why does the sentence use a la instead of the contraction al?

Accepted Answer

The contraction al is only used when the preposition a (to) meets the masculine article el (the). Because escuela is a feminine noun, it uses the feminine article la. The words a and la never combine, so they must stay separate as a la.

Question 2

In English we just say "walks to school". Why does the Spanish sentence add la (the)?

Accepted Answer

In Spanish, you generally need to include the definite article (el or la) before places like school, church, or work when talking about going there. So you are literally saying "walks to the school" (camina a la escuela).

Question 3

Does the preposition a always mean "to"?

Accepted Answer

Not always, but it is the most common word for "to" when you are talking about movement or destination. After verbs of motion like caminar (to walk) or ir (to go), you will almost always use a to introduce the destination.

Question 4

I remember learning that camino means "I walk". Why does it change to camina here?

Accepted Answer

Verbs in Spanish change their ending depending on who is doing the action. Because the subject is Mi hermana (My sister), which is a "she", you use the third-person singular ending for regular verbs ending in -ar. That ending is -a, making it camina.

Mi hermana camina a la escuela.

Breakdown of Mi hermana camina a la escuela.

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