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Llaman al hombre viejo.

Llaman al hombre viejo.
They call the old man.
From Lesson 27:The personal 'a' (a)·Spanish (Spain)

Questions & Answers about Llaman al hombre viejo.

Why is there no word for "they" in the Spanish sentence?
In Spanish, the ending of the verb tells us who is doing the action. The -an ending on llaman means they call. You can add ellos or ellas at the beginning for emphasis, but it is usually left out.
Why is it al instead of just el for "the"?
Al is a contraction of two words: a and el. In Spanish, when an action is done to a person, you must put the word a (often called the personal a) before the person. Since the man is el hombre, a plus el combines into the single word al.
Why is the order hombre viejo instead of viejo hombre?
In English, describing words like old come before the noun. In Spanish, they usually come right after the noun they describe. So, the old man translates in the order of the man old (el hombre viejo).
How would I ask "Who do they call?" using a question word?
Because you are asking about a person receiving an action, you have to use the personal a here too. You place a right before the question word for who (quién), making the question ¿A quién llaman?.

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