Breakdown of ¿Ves al vecino allí?
allí
there
el vecino
the neighbor
ver
to see; to watch (TV, a film)
al
personal a + the (m)
Questions & Answers about ¿Ves al vecino allí?
Why does the sentence use al instead of just el before vecino?
In Spanish, when the target of a verb's action is a person (like vecino, meaning neighbor), we must put the word a right before it. This is called the personal 'a'. Because vecino is masculine, it needs the article el. When a and el are next to each other, they always combine into the single word al.
Would I still use the personal 'a' if the neighbor was a woman?
Yes, you always use the personal 'a' for specific people! But if it were a female neighbor (la vecina), you would say a la vecina. The words a and la do not combine into one word like a and el do.
Why isn't there a word for "you" in the Spanish sentence?
What is the difference between allí and ahí for "there"?