Learn Spanish (Spain): ¿Dónde ayudas al chico?

¿Dónde ayudas al chico?

Where do you help the boy?

Breakdown of ¿Dónde ayudas al chico?

Questions & Answers about ¿Dónde ayudas al chico?

Why does dónde have an accent mark on the "o"?

In Spanish, all question words like dónde (where) and qué (what) must have an accent mark when they are used to ask a question.

Where is the word for "you" in this sentence?

It is built right into the verb! Ayudas comes from ayudar (to help). The -as ending tells us it is the informal "you" (tú) form. Because the ending makes it clear who is helping, you do not need to actually say the word tú.

What does al mean, and why is it used before "the boy"?

Al is a mandatory combination of two words: a and el (the). In Spanish, whenever an action is done to a specific person, you must put the word a before that person. This is called the personal "a". Since "the boy" is el chico, it becomes a el chico, which always merges into the single word al.

Why is there no translation for the English word "do" in the Spanish sentence?

Spanish does not use helper words like "do" or "does" to ask questions. Instead, you just use the main verb directly right after the question word. So, ¿Dónde ayudas...? literally means "Where help you...?" but translates to "Where do you help...?" in natural English.