¿Dónde esperas a tu padre?

Questions & Answers about ¿Dónde esperas a tu padre?

Why does Dónde have an accent mark over the 'o'?
In Spanish, all question words like dónde (where), qué (what), and quién (who) always have a written accent mark. This helps show it is being used to ask a question, rather than just connecting parts of a sentence.
Where is the word for 'do' in this sentence?
Spanish doesn't use helper words like 'do' or 'does' to ask questions. The verb esperas alone means both 'you wait' and 'do you wait'. The question marks and your tone of voice do all the work!
What is the a doing right before tu padre?
That is the 'personal a'. In Spanish, whenever the direct receiver of an action is a specific person or a pet (like your father), you must put the word a right before them. It doesn't translate into English here, but it is required in Spanish.
Why doesn't tu have an accent mark here?
Without the accent, tu is a possessive word that means 'your' (as in tu padre, meaning 'your father'). If it had an accent mark (tú), it would mean the subject pronoun 'you'. You only use the accent when talking about the person, not what they have.

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