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¿Prefieres ir al cine hoy?

¿Prefieres ir al cine hoy?
Do you prefer to go to the cinema today?
From Lesson 29:Stem-changing verbs: e to ie·Spanish (Spain)

Questions & Answers about ¿Prefieres ir al cine hoy?

Why does preferir change to prefieres with an 'ie'?
Preferir (to prefer) is a stem-changing verb. In the present tense, the second e in the stem changes to ie for most pronouns, including the tú (you) form. That's why it becomes prefieres instead of preferes.
The English translation says 'Do you prefer', but where is the 'do' and 'you' in Spanish?
Spanish doesn't use helper words like 'do' to ask questions; you simply add question marks and use a questioning tone. Also, the word tú (you) is dropped because the -es ending on prefieres already makes it completely clear who is doing the action.
Why isn't the verb ir (to go) conjugated here?
When you use two verbs together to express a single idea, like 'prefer to go', you only conjugate the first verb (prefieres). The second verb stays in its infinitive (unconjugated) form, which is ir. This works just like it does in English.
What does al mean and why can't we just say a el?
al means 'to the'. In Spanish, whenever the preposition a (to) is immediately followed by the masculine article el (the), they must join together to form the contraction al. Writing or saying a el is grammatically incorrect.

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